


Signed, Yours.

by raigicide



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - School, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Puppy Love, Recreational Drug Use, Slow Burn, Time Skips, it's just weed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-04-30 16:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 62,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14501334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raigicide/pseuds/raigicide
Summary: 6 year old Ten meets 7 year old Johnny in the bathroom of a pizza place in Chicago and it sort of spirals from there.





	1. Chapter 1

Ten is excited. 

Why?

He’s in America for the first time and he’s getting American pizza at an American place. Cool stuff for a small chubby cheeked 6 year old Thai boy to have accomplished. 

His parents had to (finally) make a business trip to the United States of America because their business was booming and they were getting quite a bit of attention. Ten wasn’t very sure what it was that his parents did exactly but it made people happy and it let them have nice things so he wasn’t complaining. He’s sitting on his ‘grownup’ chair with a pillow under his bottom so that he can reach the table - because he’s ‘too grownup for a high chair mom!’- and looking at his little sister playing with the crayons the restaurant gave little kids in her high chair. 

A small part of him rejoices at the fact that he’s grown past the high chair phase even though the pillow under his butt is making him slide off of the chair from time to time. He grabs a crayon when his sister isn’t looking and starts doodling on his table mat. He draws a big bird and a pizza and a house and a few other things. He looks around at the small but famous pizza place his parents had brought them to for lunch as a treat before they headed back to Thailand that night. They had heard about Chicago deep dish pizza and when Ten had looked at the pictures out front, his little tummy had rumbled so loud his dad who was holding him up had laughed into his head. Ten had grumbled at being treated like a baby but he was pretty sure his parents were really hungry too with how quickly they managed to settle on what to order unlike all the other times. 

His mother peeks at his drawing and Ten shows her the full mat. She smiles and compliments his drawing before grabbing a crayon herself and doodling a little on her place mat too. His dad’s leg is wobbling continuously because of how hungry he is and his mom places her hand on his leg to calm him down. Ten smiles at his funny parents and then remembers how he too is super hungry. Reminded thanks to how lovely the pizza place is smelling and how many orders are being served. Ten drinks half of his water in the hopes to quiet his stomach and then five minutes later drinks some more. Ten’s dad looks at him and gives him a crooked smile conveying he feels exactly what the little boy is feeling. They’re all practically vibrating off their seats with hunger when finally their pizzas arrive. Ten’s never seen anything like it. It’s super cheesy and as big as his own face and it looks more like a pie? The smell infiltrates his nose and he waits to be given his share with his hands under his thighs. His parents start on their meal, Ten’s sister being given small bites because she’d already been fed her baby food and Ten’s just about to take a big bite when his bladder makes itself known.

Ten shoots off of his chair, stumbling slightly because the pillow slipped from under him, which startles his mom and he says he needs to go to the toilet before sprinting off. He asks a waiter shyly where the toilet is and is directed to the men’s room. He goes in and pees quickly, the sweet relief of an empty bladder making him smile. He’s on his tippy toes, hurriedly washing his hands in a rush to go back to his food when the door to the bathroom opens. Another little boy walks in wearing a gray t-shirt with a picture of pigeoto on it. He looks kind of sullen and moody but Ten notices his t-shirt and can’t help but tell the boy that he thinks that it’s super cool.

“Hey! I like your shirt! It’s Pokemon!” He says in his basic English because he hadn’t started English classes until last year at school.

 

The boy looks at him his eyes going wide before his face splits into a huge grin and Ten gets a tiny shock at how goofy this other kid looks when not a second ago he looked like a moody and scary boy.

The other boy thrusts his hand out and says, “I’m Johnny. I’m actually Seo Youngho but Johnny is my name here and thank you! Your shirt is cool too!”

Ten looks down at his little button down shirt that has a tiny cloud embroidered on the pocket, smiles and shakes the other boy’s hand.

“I’m Ten. I’m actually Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul but Ten is what everyone calls me. I collect Pokemon figures. Pokemon is too cool.”

The boy nods quietly trying to memorise the long name. It wasn’t too hard considering he knew the Terminator’s real name.

“Dude you don’t have to tell me! Which Pokemon do you like best?”

“I like Charmander and I also like Jigglypuff. Jigglypuff is funny and cute.” Ten smiles big.

Johnny’s eyes go wide for a second and he smiles even bigger in response.

“That’s a good choice. I personally like Pigeoto a lot because I like birds but I also like Squirtle.”

They continue talking for a few more minutes, neither noticing that they’re still holding hands when Ten’s dad bursts into the bathroom with a worried look on his face and spots Ten laughing and smiling with another kid. Ten and Johnny startle and jump apart at the loud noise and Ten’s dad lets out a big sigh of relief. 

“Ten, you said you were just going to pee, it’s been 15 minutes and you weren’t out so we got worried. Who is this?” His father looks curiously at Johnny.

“He’s my new friend dad! He likes Pokemon and his shirt has Pigeoto on it and he’s so cool!”

Johnny blushes at the way Ten’s gushing about him when they met not even 10 minutes ago and introduces himself shyly, his eyes on his shoes and Ten’s dad smiles at him.

“I’m Seo Youngo or Johnny. I’m 7 years old. I’m sorry if I kept Ten here and worried you”

Ten’s dad laughs at how grownup this little boy sounded and says,” Don’t worry about it kiddo, we’re just glad he’s not having an upset tummy! Oh tummy reminds me, we should go out there and get some food into you Ten. Johnny are your parent’s here?” 

“Yeah they are! I should go back to them too before they worry.” 

Ten’s dad smiles kindly and Ten say’s goodbye to him, his hand stuck out for another handshake.

“Bye bye Johnny Seo it was really nice meeting you!”

Johnny shakes his hand again and smiles widely.

“Same here Ten! Stay cool!”

Ten laughs brightly and his dad chuckles. Johnny suddenly feels embarrassed and fiddles with his shirt. All three of them walk out of the bathroom with Johnny going the other way to the 2nd floor of the restaurant and Ten and his dad heading back to their seat on the first floor.

Ten’s mom is about to give him a stern talking to, holding his little sister who’s asleep in her arms when she notices her husbands shaking his head with a smile and relaxes. 

“Just don’t worry us like that again okay?” She sighs.

“Yes mom, sorry..”

“Eat your slice now it’s almost gone cold!”

Ten looks at his slice on the table, hoists himself up on his chair (and pillow) and devours his huge slice of pizza. Even he’s mildly surprised at how he managed to go through a piece of pizza that big, that quickly. Ten’s absentmindedly drawing a little boy and a pigeoto next to him on his table mat and they’re about to finish paying up when a little tornado in the form of Johnny Seo stops at their table. He’s breathing a little heavily and he has a small piece of paper clutched in his palm. Ten startles out of his drawing and food stupor and looks at Johnny who is slightly red in the face. 

“Hey”, Johnny breathes out.

“Hi Johnny!”, he says and turns to his mom. “Mom this is the friend I made in the toilet! Johnny Seo. He likes Pokemon like me!” Ten starts babbling with a wide grin.

His mom smiles at Johnny and Johnny shyly waves in greeting. Then he turns to Ten with a serious look on his little face.

“Ten this might seem weird but I really liked talking to you. Would it be okay if we kept talking somehow? Not a lot of the people at my school like Pokemon much and they find it weird. I’ve never spoken to anyone properly about it and you seem to have a lot of knowledge about Pokemon, like me.” he finishes off sagely.

Ten’s parents giggle quietly at how serious this other little boy is about Pokemon.

“Of course I’d love to keep talking Johnny! But how do we do that? I’m actually from Thailand and I’m going back very soon.” Ten pouts slightly.

Johnny’s expression drops a little, but he manages a smile and says,”Don’t worry about that! Here’s my house phone number and my address! I thought you’d be able to visit but we can be penfriends instead! ”

“P..pen friends?” Ten tilts his head confused at the new term.

“It’s where people who stay far away from each other send letters and tell each other how their days are going! The only thing is you have to be consistent with the letters or it doesn’t work.” Johnny says trying to remember everything their English teacher had said about penfriends during their letter writing class.

Ten nods and look at his parents asking for permission with his eyes. He makes them go big and juts out his bottom lip a little. His parents always agree when he does that.

“Sure Ten, you can be penfriends with him. But did you ask your parent’s permission Johnny? It’s not very safe to give strangers your address and phone number!” Ten’s mom says.

“Oh yes aunty I spoke to my parent and asked for their permission. I told them Ten and uncle seemed like very nice people and they’re coming do- oh there they are!” Johnny waves at his parents and they walk over to Ten’s table with polite smiles on their faces. Johnny’s dad ruffles his hair and Johnny pouts a little. Ten thinks that’s cute.

Tens and Johnny’s parents talk a little before they have to part ways. Johnny hands him the piece of paper with his address and number written on it. Clearly his parent’s handwriting. Both the families walk out together with the warm feeling of having had good food and being in good company. It’s when they’re outside the restaurant that Ten suddenly rushes back in and runs out with a piece of paper in his hands. He thrusts it into Johnny’s hands and waves goodbye to him with a big grin as his dad picks him up and they walk in the opposite direction of Johnny’s house.

Johnny looks down at the paper and it’s a crude drawing of what he assumes is him with the flat black hair and smiley face and gray shirt. There’s a pigeoto twice his size next to him and at the bottom of the paper a big smiley face and TEN written in red crayon. Johnny gets into his parent’s car, them speaking amicably about how cute it was that Johnny made a friend in the toilet and how nice Ten’s family was. He feels something warm in his chest as he holds the drawing his friend gave him and smiles before he dozes off to sleep in the car.

Ten’s smiling into his dad’s shoulder as they’re walking to their hotel, happy to have made a new friend in America of all places and keeps his hand in the pocket of his pants making sure that the important piece of paper is safe in the double security of his palm and the pants. His mom had offered to keep the paper in her purse but he had declined loudly claiming he was old enough to hold on to it.

Ten’s smile didn’t drop for the entirety of the long and horrible flight, kept up with the thoughts of a scary looking but goofy kid with a gray pigeoto t-shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally have no idea what I'm doing. I haven't written a fic in so long so if you guys notice any mistakes or anything let me know! Please don't hate me too much if their ages don't match. Basically Ten's always going to be a year younger and a grade lower than Johnny's.I usually write these at like 2am thanks insomnia lmao but ya have fun! I'll update weekly?? I hope? 
> 
> Twt: @tendaeyo if u wanna yell at me \o/~


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are going to be moving along much faster as the chapters progress!! I'll update on Mondays or Tuesdays depending on which part of the world you're from!
> 
> Italics are usually parts of their letters or them speaking to themselves. Like an inner dialogue or thought!
> 
> Thank you for the kudos and support

Johnny’s sitting at his desk and reading the newest letter from Ten.  
  
It’s been 6 months since they started exchanging letters and it was usually limited to one letter per month thanks to the delay in the Thai and American postal services. Once, one of Johnny’s letters had gotten lost and they had both ended up sending an extra letter each. Ten asking if Johnny was ill and giving him some home recipes for general illnesses and Johnny sending an extra long letter where he rewrote everything from the lost letter and updated the contents of it some more.

Sometimes Ten’s letters had little drawings accompanying them when the Thai boy couldn’t put the ‘feeling’ of a certain experience or something into words. Johnny loved those the most. He made photocopies of those letters and cut up the drawings to put them in a scrapbook. Johnny’s letters usually had little stickers and a few song and book recommendations. Johnny hoped that Ten would like whatever he was recommending him and to his delight it was usually the case when Ten mentioned liking the song or the book a letter or two later.

Their conversations usually consisted of school work, chores they have to do, complaining about the chores they have to do, similarities between their parents, ten’s dad’s new farm and the little pranks he pulled on his sister. They also talked about Johnny’s books and some music and the differences between life in America and in Thailand and of course they spoke about Pokemon.  
  
February was their busiest month. Both the boys had their birthdays in that month (much to their delight-’we match!!’ they had exclaimed in their letters) and their parent’s had agreed to let them send one package per year only in this month. Ten usually sent him a big coloured drawing with Thai snacks and a few tiny knick-knacks he knew the other boy would find interesting. Johnny would send him a little drawing himself, trying to make an effort even though he was pretty horrible at it (Ten loved each one of the drawings and kept them away safely in a box) and a music CD along with some cool photos from magazines and American snacks and some other small things. Of course a letter was included in these packages and it was usually the longest letter of the year with small notes from the parents wishing the other child a happy birthday.  
  
Johnny was reading his newest letter. Ten had just started 2nd grade and he was telling Johnny about how fun the art classes are and how much he enjoys basketball, which he started recently. Ten outlined his class schedule and told him that he disliked History the most because that was his worst subject and it was the first class of the day.  
  
_“Why do I need to know what some weird old people did in the weird old times! I’m happy now and I think we should all think about the now. History is boring and our teacher keeps making me read the chapters in class because she sees me falling asleep.”_  
  
He’d drawn a little boy with black floppy hair with a sad expression and a history book with an angry expression near him. Johnny giggled at the little drawing and made a mental note to put it in his scrapbook and started writing his reply to Ten’s letter of frustration.  
  
“ _Dear Ten,_

 _It’s only through history that we know which mistakes not to repeat! History is one of my favorite subjects. People made such silly mistakes that could have been avoided. Think of it this way. Imagine those funny old people making super silly decisions that not even us little kids would make! Read the chapters in what you imagine their voices were and you could suddenly start to find it funny and start to enjoy it.”_  
  
Johnny stuck his tongue out and wrote and wrote for the next hour.

~~  
  
Ten was lying with his head hanging off couch, practically half off the couch, staring at the TV which was playing a dumb cartoon he didn’t like. But he had finished his homework and revision for the day and his sister had been taken to the park which he hadn’t wanted to go to because parks were for babies. That was probably not a great idea he thought with his head dangling from side to side because he was so bored. His dad wasn’t even home and his friends weren’t an option because they were all doing homework at the last minute.

He rolled off of his spot and turned the TV off, having decided to do something productive while he was alone at home. He didn’t want his family to walk in and see him in the exact same position they left him on the couch. He also didn’t want the lecture about watching TV for so much time in such a bad posture is awful for you. He got up and walked over to the piano they’d recently bought to help encourage a new hobby. He was going to start classes soon and he made a mental note to write to Johnny about that. He sat down on the hard chair and starting pressing different keys. He played a little with the piano and then tried to remember how one of the songs Johnny told him he had liked went. He hummed the song slowly and hesitantly poked the keys he thought would match, got frustrated when it didn’t work and kept trying until he had a pretty similar sounding tune. He played it faster and faster, getting closer to the original tempo and smiled brightly, a little sweaty. He had to show his parents and he definitely had to write to Johnny about it.

~~  
  
Johnny had just finished writing his newest letter and was adding some fancy holographic stickers he had found to make it look cooler when his mom called for him. He stopped what he was doing and frowned a little. That was her ‘We’re going to have a discussion soon so come down fast’ voice not her ‘There’s something super fun on the TV right now’ voice. He walked downstairs trying to remember if he had made any mistakes or done something wrong recently but he came up with nothing. He walked into the kitchen to find his mom and dad at the dinner table sitting on their normal spots but they stopped talking the second he came in and gave him a serious look.  
  
“Sit down son”, his dad said with a small smile. (Johnny stopped worrying so much)  
  
“We have something we need to talk to you about”, his mom started.  
  
“Okay shoot!”  
  
“Well, you know how dad’s job hasn’t been going too well right?”  
  
“Mm-hmm..” Johnny nodded slowly.

His parents never discussed their work lives in full but they always mentioned how things were going so that everyone stayed in the loop.  
  
“And you also know that your dad’s mom, your grandma is getting old right?”  
  
Johnny remembered his grandma in Korea, her house that always smelled of something sweet and citrus-y. She always got him fish cakes and cheap sweets that he loved munching on whenever he went to visit. He remembered her hands getting knobbly and asking why. She had laughed and said something about her hands getting toned the way young people got toned in the gym. His grandma was a funny one.

Johnny nodded.  
  
“Well, I got a really good job offer at a company in Seoul and I think it would be best if we shift there. I could also take care of my mother and your mom would be closer to her family too. We’d be moving in a week or two once I take the job. What do you think?”  
  
Johnny blinked at his parents. His mouth opened and closed once and he stood up suddenly, his chair falling in a loud clatter behind him. He ran up to his room and shut the door and fell face down on his bed, his head buried in his pillow.  
Johnny’s mind was a whirlpool of emotions and snapshots of his life here and his friends here and the neighborhoods here. He’d be leaving all of that behind in two weeks. He felt a few tears escaping his eyes and he rubbed them off roughly and tried to think with a clear mind. He knew his family wasn’t getting by too well here, with his dad’s current company not doing too well and his mom working two jobs. Neither of them got enough time to be with each other or with Johnny and that had made things strained. His grandma was getting old too. He cried some more and was about to get up and go downstairs again to apologise to his parents for running off when someone knocked at his door. His mom and dad walked into his now dark room and sat on his bed. His mom stroked his hair and his dad held his hand.  
  
“We’re sorry for breaking it to you like that I know we should’ve mentioned something much earlier and not done this so suddenly. Are you okay?”  
  
Johnny nodded and got up and hugged his parents.  
  
“It’s OK you guys. I am upset you didn’t tell me sooner but I know this is for the best. Let’s do this together. It’s going to be hard to say bye to everyone but I can keep in touch with them through email and letters now. I could also maybe finally get better at Korean and make grandma proud haha”, Johnny giggled sadly.  
  
His parents hugged him close and asked him silently to forgive them for uprooting him from a place he was happy in. They thanked him for being so mature about it and prayed he would be just as happy in Korea.  
  
Johnny Suh was 8 years old when his family moved to Korea for good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Johnny :( is :( a :( good :( boy.
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	3. Chapter 3

Johnny opens his eyes to a bright morning, light filtering in through his curtains and grumbles quietly. He was never one for mornings, especially school mornings where he was forced awake by his alarm. He padded along the cold floor hoping the shock would wake him up (it didn’t) and proceeded to throw the curtains open to let the sunlight in. It burned his eyes completely but at least he was awake now. He took his time in the bathroom, got dressed for school and went downstairs for breakfast.

It had been around a year since his family and he had moved to Korea and he was adjusting pretty alright. The other kids were kind of apprehensive of him because he was ‘A Return’ but once he started opening up little by little, they all treated him pretty much the same as they would the other guys in class. His Korean improving really fast helped a lot as well. Plus he always offered to help the other kids with their English homework so that earned him some brownie points too. He was now, officially the ‘scary from afar but if you ask him he’s chill’ guy at school. Being in 5th grade was serious business. They had just started understanding how society works and weren't as open to making new friends as they used to be. So walking up to someone in school and asking them to be his friend was completely impossible and would probably damage his cool guy persona. But Johnny was pleased to say that he had made some friends from the neighborhood.

~~  
  
Taeil and Taeyong had befriended him shyly when he had gone to the neighborhood park a few days after they had moved at his mother’s insistence about how he should try to make new friends. He had been sat on the swing kicking the ground, a little downcast and a little sulky because he didn’t know his way around the neighborhood and everything felt too unknown to him. He missed his old house in America and his old friends and the paths they used to take to go play almost everyday which were ingrained into his brain. He swung for a little bit before hopping off and deciding to go to the big slide.

That’s where he saw them. Two kids around his age looking like they were having a small argument of sorts at the ladder that led to the top of the big covered slide.

“Taeil-hyung please I’ll go on it but you need to go on it first!”, the shorter of the two frowned at the other one.  
  
“Taeyongie you said today that you’d go first and that you wouldn’t be scared. You need to get over it dude it’s just a slide”, the other guy, _Taeil_ sighed.  
  
The little one’s- who was called Taeyong apparently- bottom lip started quivering and he looked down at his feet. Johnny felt like stepping in and telling the older kid off for making someone scared, when Taeil held Taeyong’s hand gently.

“Look you don’t have to do it but you know you get even more upset with yourself when you don’t go down this slide. Don’t worry Taeyong I’ll be waiting at the end for you and I’ll keep calling your name so you don’t feel scared okay. It’ll be over in less than a flash.”  
  
Taeyong looked at Taeil and his face suddenly turned determined, even though it was still a bit pink from him trying not to cry. Taeil smiled and ruffled Taeyongs hair at which the younger whined loudly, slapping the older boy’s hand away. Johnny, for some reason felt like interrupting them and went, “Uh, sorry I kind of eavesdropped but hey..I’m new here and if you want, I can wait at the bottom of the stairs..if you want I mean!” he repeated suddenly feeling silly for speaking to these strangers.  
  
Taeyongs eyes widened and he said,”You’d really do that?”  
  
“Yeah it’s no biggie”, Johnny shrugged.  
  
“Oh thank you um-”  
  
“John-Youngho. Seo Youngho I moved in the house near the general store a few days ago!”  
  
“Hello Youngho!! I’m Taeil! Let’s be friends! We’ll talk more once Taeyongie here has finally conquered his fear okay?” Taeil says brightly, gesturing to the smaller kid, “I’ll run to the end of the slide and you can help him get up the slide. Is that okay?”  
  
“Sure!!” Johnny looks at Taeyong who smiles with his eyebrows furrowed in determination at him and nods to Taeil.  
  
“Go hyung I’ll see you there!”  
  
Taeyongs started climbing the ladder when his legs get all wobbly. He grips the sides of the ladder and calls out to Johnny.  
  
“Um..can you please say something so I know you’re there?”  
  
Johnny nods, realises the kid can’t see him and shouts encouragements as he slowly continues climbing.

Taeyong finally makes it to the top and sits at the edge of the slide. His eyes starting to water at how dark the covered slide is and how high up and he is. Suddenly he hears Taeil’s voice from the slide.  
  
“Taeyong come on! You can do this lets goooo!!”  
  
Taeyong closes his eyes and pushes off.

The next thing he knows he’s sitting on top of Taeil’s back and Taeil’s facedown on the ground. Johnny comes jogging from the back and starts laughing at the scene in front of him so loud, he crumples to the ground.

Taeil pushes himself up, effectively throwing Taeyong off and turns to look at the boy. Taeyong’s eyes have gone blank like he’s in shock but a small wobbly smile starts breaking out on his face. Taeil, at that moment, breaks out in the biggest grin sporting small cuts on his forehead and cheeks and hugs the little boy, ruffling his hair with pride.  
  
“You did it dude!! Well done! Finally oh my god!”  
  
Taeyong starts laughing and bouncing around happily at having overcome his fear.  
  
"I did it!! I did it hyung!"  
  
They both turn to Johnny and give him a hug, which shocks him. Johnny wasn't used to affection from boys his age, usually greeting each other with fist-pumps and occasional half-hugs. After Johnny returns their hug and grins at them, they go have some ice-cream and bond over the fact that they all co-incidentally go to the same school. Taeyong’s the same age as Johnny and Taeils a year older than them both. They talk a bit about their school and watch the sun go down over the houses in their neighborhood.  
  
~~  
  
Johnny breaks out of his drowsy breakfast reverie when his mom drops a letter in front of him. He is about to tear open the envelope, already shaking with excitement when Taeyong and Taeil yell outside their house. This system works very well for all of them and has worked for a year, with Taeil and Taeyong coming to pick Johnny up since both of them are always punctual and Johnny, while not a tardy student, tends to get lazy and slow when he has to get ready for school.  
  
Johnny shoves a spoonful of cereal into his mouth, yells goodbye to everyone in the house, stuffs the letter into his bag to read later and runs out the door while still attempting to stuff his feet into his school shoes. He smiles brightly at his friends and they make the short walk to school discussing the events of the latest drama that their moms (and they) watch every night. They will never admit it but each of them enjoys it as much, if not more than their moms.  
  
It’s almost recess when Johnny finally gets to read the letter.  
  
He walks to a spot outside the building, hidden between a huge tree and an abandoned storage room where no-one, not even Taeil and Taeyong can find him and opens the letter carefully. Johnny prefers reading his letters alone because then he can react to them as he pleases, without having to control his face or his laughter. This letter had been delayed by a month and Johnny had gotten really worried that Ten had finally grown tired of this pen-friendship and called it quits. Part of him knew Ten wouldn’t do that but a larger part never dismissed the possibility.  
  
_Heyyo Johnny boy!_  
  
_Does anyone even call you Johnny anymore? How is school going for you? What’s the weather like? It’s awfully hot as always here but at least we get mangos (even though I’m afraid of fruit, I know that the fact that we get mangos makes us superior LOL)._  
  
_I’m sorry the letter got lost (again). I hate the postal system! We should exchange emails you know, get with the times. But I know that won’t happen because we both like actually writing and not typing letters into a computer. Anyways, I’ve actually dropped basketball and I joined gymnastics! And..I think I’m actually sort of pretty good at it? At least my teachers tell me so!_  
  
_It makes my body hurt a lot though because I never had to do so many bend-y flex-y things in basketball. I just had to jump. Anyways I hope my height grows a lot because of this and I become super tall!!_  
  
Ten had continued to write out in detail everything that had happened to him in the last month and a half and as usual he had drawn in some small illustrations. ‘ _He’s getting better at this’_ Johnny thought to himself noticing how much smoother Ten’s lines had gotten and how even the colouring looked. Johnny smiled and reminded himself to put this in the scrapbook. The last paragraph is what made Johnny’s heart burst with affection.  
  
_So I don’t know if you remember or not with your busy school life (look at me talking like mine isn’t busy. Algebra sucks!) but this is the month where we met in Chicago for the first time. It’s so weird how we’ve managed to keep in touch for so long! Even my mom and friends think its weird(but in a really good way!). Well, anyways I just wanted to say that even though it’s been two years since we met, I’m really happy that you’re my friend! Stay cool Johnny boy!_  
  
_Sincerely,_  
_Ten out of Ten”_  
  
Ten had drawn a big pizza and two boys sitting on top of it, a boy with straight hair in a gray t-shirt and another boy with floppier long black hair in a red t-shirt. Johnny felt something twinge in his heart and he held the paper close to him for a moment, just appreciating his Thai friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Johnny makes friends!!  
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	4. Chapter 4

_“Dear Ten,_  
  
_Dude, I joined the basketball team. I’m 5ft 4inches already and I’m only 11! I’m already the tallest boy in class and the coach literally cornered me one day and practically threatened me before he slipped me some snacks as a bribe to join the team. Who am I to say no when I’m being persuaded so well right?_  
_How’s gymnastics going? How is everyone at home? I hope you’re resting and icing and all that cool stuff that gymnasts have to do to take care of themselves. How’s your super fancy new school by the way!_  
  
_Also about the upcoming Harry Potter book-”_  
  
~~  
  
School was getting extra difficult what with the weather starting to get cooler and it being generally pleasant outside when they all had to stay cooped up in class to prepare for their exams and what not. Johnny itched to run outside, skip class and just play. He could probably convince Taeil to join him and if Taeil came, Taeyong would hesitantly follow as well. Taeyong was a huge stickler for the rules so it was always a pain trying to convince him to break any. Not that Johnny could break any rules in school, even if he wanted to. Especially something as major as skipping class. His mom and dad would have his head for dinner and then Taeyong would probably pop in just to tell his cooked head 'I told you so' in the snottiest voice he could muster.  
  
With that thought in mind, Johnny walked back into his classroom after PE with Taeyong, who had turned out to be in the same classroom as him for this year. It was their second to last class before recess. All of the kids were sweaty and gross and grumbling about the lack of cooling and ventilation in the classroom, when Taeyong got called out of his seat by one of the assistant teachers. Taeyong pushed his glasses up and shuffled to his feet, his back noticeably stiffer than it was a few seconds ago. Everyone ooh-ed and aah-ed and Johnny rolled his eyes a little knowing it was probably some official duty thing that Taeyong had to do as the class rep. Johnny gave him an encouraging smile when he patted his shoulder as he left the class. Taeyong was a responsible and hardworking little dude and Johnny really admired how mature his friend was even at their age. Plus the prescription glasses he had gotten recently (which he hated and found excuses not to wear) added to his class rep feel. All Johnny could think of was games and playing and pranks but the other boy always had a sense of maturity and responsibility exuding from his small shoulders. It made him want to be more responsible and grown-up too.  
  
Johnny rolled his head back on his chair and fell into a drowsy, sleeping but not really zone and imagined a faceless boy in a sky blue button down running towards him, when suddenly the teacher slammed the classroom door open and shocked him out of his daydream. Johnny rolled his eyes at the teacher's dramatics before grabbing his books out of his bag and resigning himself to another boring Science class. They were halfway through class when Taeyong walked in looking like he’d seen a ghost. Johnny saw a mop of black hair and a pale neck disappearing from their door and frowned worriedly at Taeyong. If he asked, Johnny had seen the ghost too and he ready to support his friend in the event of supernatural contact.  
  
Johnny leaned forward diagonally towards Taeyong’s seat and threw a tiny piece of crumpled paper at his neck. Taeyong turned around slowly to face him, his face now an odd shade of pink. Johnny got really worried at this point and his frown deepened.  
  
“Dude are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost..Did you?” Johnny whispered unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice. He believed in ghosts and the paranormal and everyone else who made fun of him for it could go fall off a cliff.  
  
“Um-”  
  
“Hey you’re worrying me...you’re almost never like this unless Taeil-hyung and I force you to order food or something.”  
  
“Uh..Johnny, I may have seen something” Taeyong whispered back.  
  
Johnny looked at the teacher to make sure his back was turned and once he was sure, he leaned forward dangerously on his chair, chin propped up in his hands, eager to know what his friend had seen.  
  
The colour was returning to Taeyong's face but he kept getting more and more red as the seconds passed. Johnny's eyebrows furrowed in confusion and he encouragingly nodded his head to tell Taeyong to go on.  
  
“I..I spoke to the most beautiful human I’ve ever. Ever seen dude.”  
  
Johnny’s hand slipped from under his chin and his books cluttered to the floor causing a succession of loud noises to echo throughout their classroom. He pushed his chair back to its normal position before the teacher turned, around squinting suspiciously. When he sees Johnny standing and bowing in apology,he turns back to writing notes on the board with an irritated huff, very used to Johnny's dramatic antics. Johnny sits down and gapes for the rest of the duration of their class at his friend, who had also turned towards the board.  
  
No one remembered the books on the floor.  
  
~~  
  
Ten sat on the gym floor his eyes closed in pain. He had landed a jump wrong and his leg had sort of...crumpled beneath him. It was hurting a lot and his teacher had told him to sit on the floor and slowly attempt to stretch it. He was trying very hard to flex his muscles but it felt like his leg was on fire. Ten’s eyes started to water and he got angry with himself. The jump he had made was basic, a level 1 thing he had mastered long ago. Why had his legs failed him now he wondered and glared at his evil leg. The one that gave way. His teacher hurried over right after the training for the day was done for the other kids and apologised for not attending to him earlier. He put ice on his calf and told Ten that it was just a pulled muscle. A bad pull but he would get better in no time. His teacher called his parents and his mom came to pick him up. He usually went back with his classmates but he needed his mom or dad to take care of him since it was the first time he had made such a big error.  
  
“Dad, my leg betrayed me. I had learned this in level one when I started and it just, crumpled.” He sulked in the passengers seat of his car.  
  
Ten’s dad reached out to pet his hair at a stop. He smiled and said, “Aw Ten it’s okay you know. These things happen. There’s no point in beating yourself up about it. The only thing to do is to heal and get back up and overcome the hurdle. You know that right?”  
  
“Yeah yeah I know but. It’s still awful.”  
  
“You know sometimes, I forget how to spell things? Basic things like fridge and reliance and all that. Sometimes, our brain just..poots. There’s so many things going around in it that it just pauses for a second. This time it paused when you were jumping. Next time, it definitely won’t do that.”  
  
Ten giggled at the image his dad painted, of his brain farting.  
  
“How do you know that dad?”  
  
“Because unlike spellings, which aren’t a very life threatening issue -and you’re not allowed to bring this up when you have exams as an argument-”  
  
Ten’s growing grin dropped.  
  
“-you could’ve been hurt much worse had you, the conscious you, not protected yourself. Right? Next time your brain will not do anything like pooting at a time when you’re doing your jumps and things because the body and mind learns from experience.”  
  
Ten nodded quietly and smiled at his dad who smiled back, eyes on the road once the stop light turned green.  
  
He returns home to find a letter waiting for him and his heart skips in happiness. Pain momentarily forgotten as he speed-limps to the coffee table and flops on the couch.  
  
He opens the letter and reads it slowly, completely unlike the way he reads novels and textbooks where he tries to cram as much as he can into his head, as fast as he can.  
  
“ _Dear Ten,”_ it started. Ten’s heart warmed at those two words scribbled in Johnny’s weird slanted handwriting. There was a goofy sticker beside his name and he giggled at the illustration it had. Johnny had written about how he had joined basketball and about how tall he was already. Ten frowned remembering how he had just hit 5ft this year. Hopefully the gymnastics would stretch him out soon enough. Ten continued reading the letter with a soft smile on his face reaching the end of the page when his eyes practically popped out of their sockets.  
  
“ _Dude by the way, I don’t know who else to talk to about this. But I think one of my friends here has gotten a crush on a boy..?-”_  
  
Ten’s emotions went into a spiral when he read that line. He didn’t know why. He wasn’t all that exposed to homosexuality but he knew what it was. His family discussed things and no one was close minded or non-accepting. They just kept things age appropriate but him being the curious little kid he was, had used the internet one day to google the word and had shut down the browser because the pictures were so embarrassing. His heart started beating much faster. He didn’t know if it was fear or anticipation or something else.  
  
“- _I mean I don’t discriminate or anything don’t worry. Love is love in my opinion and I haven’t been raised that way, like my family is really chill about things. It was just cute because he didn’t want me to tell my mom, who you know is sort of a loudmouth and his crush probably lives in our neighborhood and you know how aunties gossip. My friend had gone into some sort of..shock when he first saw the boy he has started liking lol it was sort of gross cute. I’ve never seen him like that! But I guess this is the age we start developing crushes and all right? I wonder which ones will last and which ones won’t! On that topic do you have a crush? You don’t have to tell me haha just curious!_  
  
_My mom cooked us some crazy yummy pasta yester-”_  
  
Ten’s had to read and re-read those lines at least twelve times to actually register the words into his brain. Johnny was a good boy and he didn’t discriminate. Ten’s heart settled into a more regular rhythm and he patted his chest a few times. His mom had left him some snacks on the table while he was reading the letter and had ruffled his hair before going to freshen up. He munched on the chips and thought carefully.  
  
Johnny had asked him if he had a crush. Well, crushes are people you like and who make you feel warm. But not in the way your family makes you feel warm. In that sense, Ten had no one in school or in his friends circle. No one made him feel extra warm or tingly or whatever his friends usually described they felt when their crush so much as glanced at them. Ten looked at the letter and reread the whole thing again and settled back into the couch, his leg propped up so it wouldn’t hurt.  
  
He dismissed the warm feeling in his heart while looking at Johnny’s poor attempts at sketching his school yard as gas from the spicy snacks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dumb kids being dumb  
> UWU Taeyong has prescription glasses now and he hates them because they keep sliding off his nose and also because they make his confidence drop. But we all know he looks as cute as a button so w/e!
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, one day after Taeyong said he had spoken to the most beautiful human he had ever seen ever, Johnny walked to school with Taeil and Taeyong as always. Except Taeyong was a bit quieter than usual. He wasn’t usually the super chatty type but he spoke a lot when he felt like it and it was usually the mornings when he did because he was a healthy, happy and chipper human in the morning for some reason. This fine day Taeyong just stared listlessly and blanked out during conversations. Taeil noticed and raised his eyebrows at Johnny in question and Johnny just shrugged back. Not sure what to tell the older boy since he didn’t know much himself.  
  
They walked to school that way and when they entered the building, Taeyong snapped out of it and went into his usual class rep mode, paying attention to the teachers and taking notes and being a diligent student, mumbling in irritation when his glasses kept slipping down his nose. Johnny wondered what kind of godly human his friend had stumbled upon and had a full conversation with that had affected him so much. Taeyong was a sensitive guy but only towards the things that mattered to him. People in class and people outside his friends or family circle were just people he knew and cared for in a vague way. Taking note of the fact that Taeyong's social circle basically consisted of himself, Taeil and his family members, Johnny was...excited to know this person was. No one had such a strong effect on his shorter friend especially on the first meeting. Did this person go to their school or were they a prospective student? An older sibling who had come for an inquiry? What grade were they in? Johnny wanted to know everything and he waited for classes to break to ask his friend the questions he had tamped down for half of the previous day and half of today’s. But he never got to ask him any questions the entire day because Taeyong kept getting whisked away by something or the other. Be it teachers asking him to help with printouts or some other class rep duty or a meeting or something. And suddenly it was the end of the school day and Taeyong had disappeared into another meeting with the other class reps.  
  
Johnny walked to basketball practise at the end of school feeling (very) slightly frustrated and ready to take it all out on his training. The coach lined everyone up and stood in front of them. He uncrossed his arms to blow on the shrill whistle around his neck and crossed them again as everyone stood up in attention.  
  
“Okay kids. We have a new friend joining us today. His name is Jung Jaehyun and he’s in 5th grade. He’s actually a year younger than the other 5th graders but he’s a smart cookie so he skipped a grade and he wants to join our team!” Their coach smiled warmly at Jaehyun, who was standing beside him.  
  
“Make him feel welcome boys!”  
  
Johnny joined in the chorus of _‘Yes coach!’_ and looked at the new kid. Nothing special he noted. Sort of short and stocky, weirdly chubby face and a tuft of black hair contrasting against his pale skin. Some part of Johnny vaguely remembered having seen something similar before but dismissed it in favour of walking up to the kid and saying hi.  
  
“Hello Jaehyun! I’m Seo Youngho from 6th grade class B! Nice to meet you!”  
  
Most of the other boys had already made introductions and had started up with their warm-ups leaving the poor kid by himself. Johnny noticed his nervousness because of the  way his hands were playing with the bottom of his jersey(which didn’t match with the rest of the teams yet). He smiled warmly and extended his hand. Jaehyun looked up at him - Johnny smirked internally, proud of himself for being tall- and shook his hand with the other’s extremely warm hand.  
  
“Dude do you have a fever why are you so warm?!” Johnny asked in a panicked voice, worried that the stress of the introduction had affected the boy so badly.  
  
“Oh my god no no. I’m fine! I’m generally always warmer than what’s considered normal haha! I’m Jung Jaehyun, 5th grade class C, starting today. Nice to meet you Youngho-hyung! It’s..it’s okay if I call you hyung right?” Jaehyun tacked on nervously, still shaking the taller boy’s hand.  
  
Johnny smiled and tightened his grip, sure he was going to like this kid.  
  
“Sure Jaehyun! You can call me that. You can also call me Johnny. I came from America so I have an American name. Call me whatever you want! Come on I’ll help you find your way here, I know it’s confusing the first day. It was the same for me.”  
  
Johnny tugged the other boy’s hand and Jaehyun’s face split into the softest smile that Johnny had ever seen, with the deepest dimples cutting into his chubby cheeks. Johnny’s eyes widened at how cute the smaller boy looked and smiled bigger in response. _‘I’m definitely going to like this kid,’_ he thought.  
  
~~  
  
The two boys started the warm-up routine with Johnny guiding Jaehyun through the sets and by the time practise was done for the day, both the boys had become good friends.  
  
“Hey Johnny!”  
  
Johnny looked up from he was sitting on the edge of the courts with Jaehyun at his side, cooling down after a long workout to see Taeyong and Taeil walking towards the courts. Taeyong having finished his meeting and Taeil being done with robotics club, the two had come to pick him up. Johnny waved enthusiastically, surprised at how he managedto do that when he was sure his arms had been jelly and he had been half gone two seconds ago.

Jaehun suddenly poked Johnny’s side and looked at him with wide eyes.

“Hyung you know Taeyong-hyung?”  
  
“Yeah him and the other boy, Taeil-hyung, are my best friends here! I want to introduce them to you! You’ll like them!”  
  
Jaehyun’s eyes widened to saucers and he got up suddenly.  
  
“AH..uhm..no that’s totally cool I’ll meet them some other da-”  
  
Jaehyun’s words got cut off when Taeyong and Taeil reached the edge of the courts where the Jaehyun and Johnny had been sitting. He looked at the two new boys and his face flushed to a very red colour which surprised Johnny. The other boy hadn’t even gotten this flushed during practise.  
  
Johnny got up and turned, ready to introduce his two friends to his new friend when he noticed the look on Taeyong’s face.  
  
A light bulb went off in Johnny’s head and he looked at Taeil, who gave him a knowing smirk. Taeil had always been perceptive.

Taeyong had gone splotchy. That was the only way to describe him. His face hadn’t turned an even shade of red like Jaehyun’s but there were splotches of red blooming on his face and he looked like he wasn't breathing.

Johnny walked to Taeyong’s side and clapped him softly on the shoulder, effectively startling him out of whatever daze he’d gone into. Taeyong pushed his glasses up and Jaehyun shook himself out of it too.

“Taeil-hyung, Taeyong, this is my new friend Jae-”  
  
“Jaehyun!”, both Jaehyun and Taeyong said at the same time, startling Johnny and Taeil.  
  
“I..I’m Jung Jaehyun from grade 5 class C! I joined basketball today and I met Johnny-hyung and I guess I met you too? Uh..Nice to meet you Taeil-hyung. I’ve al..already met Taeyong-hyung. He showed me around the school the first day I came..yesterday I mean! Thank you by the way!” Jaehyun blurted out.  
  
“Hey Jaehyun! Nice to meet you. Let’s be good friends okay! Take care of our Johnny in basketball. He’s a bit of a noodle with those long limbs and thin body haha!” Taeil laughed, still shocked at Taeyong’s reaction to the younger boy.  
  
“Hi..hi Jaehyun. Nice to see you again! I hope you’re enjoying school life now.” Taeyong mumbled.  
  
“Yes I am! Thank you hyungs. Um..I’d love to continue talking but I need to go home to get ready for my after school classes. I’ll see you guys later?”  
  
“Of course buddy! Taeyong and I share a classroom and Taeil-hyungs in grade 7 class B. We all live somewhere near the general store so you know where to find us if you gotta!” Johnny says enthusiastically.  
  
~~  
  
The three older boys wave to the younger boy who drives away on his bicycle, turning back to wave at them.  
  
As soon as he’s out of sight, Johnny and Taeil turn to Taeyong.  
  
“Soo...Taeyong, Jaehyun huh?”  
  
“It’s him right? Oh my god it is Taeil-hyung! He called him the most beautiful person he had ever seen hyung. EVER. I didn’t know who he was talking about yesterday! To think it was Jaehyunnie!”  
  
“Oh my god that’s so cute! tell me all about it Taeyongie,” Taeil squeals in a sing-song voice and wraps an arm around Taeyong’s shoulder.  
  
Taeyong turns even redder and plants his face into his hands and the three boys start walking home. Excited to finally have some real drama in their lives courtesy of Lee Taeyong of all people, one of the most non-exciting kids in their neighborhood.  
  
As soon as Johnny got home, he wrote a long letter to Ten telling him about everything. He was sure Taeyong wouldn’t mind since both boys pretty much knew who Ten was. Johnny always spoke about his Thai pen-friend. He hoped Ten wouldn’t judge Taeyong for having a crush on a boy but again, he knew in his heart that it was impossible. Ten was one of the kindest and most wonderful people he knew.

So Johnny wrote, poking his tongue out in concentration when he had to draw the basketball court in his school. Hopefully Ten liked his drawings the way Johnny liked his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jaehyun makes his grand entrance and joins the dork squad!  
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so very much for all of the nice and encouraging comments on this fic!  
> It's something I write as a stress buster and I'm really glad you all are enjoying it!

Ten had joined a drawing class at his own insistence.  
  
He enjoyed drawing birds and little cartoons and other things he saw when he was out and about. The feeling of his pencil scraping on paper or filling a page with colours made him feel happy and satisfied in a way that not a lot of other things did. It was his favorite hobby.

He knew he was already super busy compared to the other 6th graders, what with his after school classes for Maths, History, English and Science. Plus he had gymnastics where he was apparently getting good enough to enter competitions and his infrequent piano lessons.

Neither of his parents understood why he wanted the burden of another class on top of all of these. It left him with almost no time to play or relax. Ten didn’t mind much. He goofed around enough with his friends during school (which was why he needed after school classes). His grades weren’t especially bad but he knew he had the capacity to get better grades if he just concentrated. But the call of playing pranks and goofing off was too strong. So he chose to study outside of school and enjoy his days as a schoolboy while inside the hallowed building of knowledge. Ten simply enjoyed learning everything he could when it came to extra-curricular activities so that if on the off chance someone asked him to play the piano after doing a double back flip, he'd be able to do it. Now he had decided to add one more thing to his extremely packed schedule.  
  
~~  
  
So there he was, on a warm evening, walking to his bi-weekly drawing class. His post gymnastics shirt was sticking to his back because of the heat. Not that he minded since he was a proud Thai boy, unaffected by the heat that had the many tourists who came to visit red in the face. He was humming quietly to himself, trying not to think too deeply about why he had joined the class. He had been too embarrassed to tell anyone but it had actually been a few words from Johnny that got him all determined to be better at drawing.  
  
_“Your drawings are so cute Ten! You’re actually really really talented. I wish I knew how to draw..”_

When he read that line in the latest letter he had received, Ten had suddenly felt all fired up and stomped over to the living room where his parents and sister were watching some American sitcom.

“Mom, dad, I wanna join a drawing class.”  
  
His parents both turned to him, muting the TV and gave him a confused look.  
  
“Son, you’re already doing so many things, if you add in a dance class you won’t have time for anything else. We already let you go to gymnastics, which you’re great at and piano and regular classes for subjects. We don’t want you overworked!” His mom had said worriedly.  
  
“But mom I’m young okay!! I can take it! I really really want to get better at drawing! I feel a _calling_ for it you know!”  
  
His mom and dad rolled their eyes and his sister sat with her eyes glued to the TV, paying no attention to Ten’s drama. 

“Fine, but if it gets too much you tell us okay. Your dad will look for a good class for you.”  
  
“Thank you! Thank you so much!! I love you!!!” Ten exclaimed and jumped over to hug his parents.  
  
Ten ran back to his room and started writing a reply for Johnny. He was so happy that he was going to get to go for drawing classes and he couldn’t wait to tell his friend. Maybe one day if they ever met up again, Ten could teach him how to draw and Johnny would be all impressed with his skills.  
  
Ten giggled at the image and drew two boys lying on the floor and doodling on loose sheets of paper.  
  
He walked into his art class and heaved his two heavy bags off. One for school and art materials and one for gymnastics. He sat down on the floor next to Dawn, a girl who had joined before him. They were good friends and she had helped him with introductions to the other kids in the class. She had a purple pencil case and curly hair and cute chubby cheeks and puffy eyes. She smiled at him and he smiled back. They made small talk until their teacher came in and started the lesson of the day which was how some different colour always went together. Complementary colors the teacher called them. He asked the students to draw the fruits and objects he had placed on the table but to colour them using only a few complementary colours. It was an exciting task and Ten rolled up his hypothetical sleeves and got to work.  
  
He was almost done with his painting when Dawn, who had taken the easel next to him poked his arm and gestured towards her water bucket.  
  
“My arms are hurting from my sports classes today Ten, could you help me carry this out? I need to throw the water.”  
  
“Sure!” Ten smiled and nodded.  
  
He got off his stool and gripped one side of the bucket while she gripped the other and the two of them carried it towards the big sink outside the building, specifically kept for washing tools and throwing used water.  
  
~~  
  
They heaved the bucket up and threw the water in. Ten quickly washed his hands and turned around ready to run back because he was eager to finish off his painting, when Dawn’s hand grabbed his wrist.  
  
“Wait.”  
  
He turned around smiling, thinking she still needed his help when out of nowhere, a pair of lips met his.  
  
Ten’s world stopped. Dawn pressed her lips to his and walked a bit closer, entering his personal space. Ten was having trouble breathing and he wanted to push her off but he didn’t want to seem rude so he just stood there, hands tense at his sides and not moving a muscle.  
  
An eternity, or what felt like an eternity later, Dawn stepped back and looked at her sneakers, her face filled with embarrassment.  
  
“I’m sorry I kissed you without asking you Ten, but I really really like you so much. Would you please go out with me?” She asked him in a rush and looked down at her feet, refusing to make eye contact with him.  
  
Ten’s face drained of colour. He didn’t know how to deal with something like this. Dawn was a good friend and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. He took a deep breath in and tried to calm his heart.  
  
“Dawn, can you please look at me?”  
  
She looked up slowly and clearly didn’t like what she saw because her eyes started tearing up. Ten was about to panic when he decided to be grownup about it at least for her sake and squared his shoulders. He looked her in the eyes and gripped both her hands in his.  
  
“I’m really sorry Dawn. Thank you so much for liking me but I don’t see you that way. You will find someone much much nicer than me very soon and that person will like you back. I’m so sorry Dawn but please can we stay friends?”  
  
Dawn ducked her head and slowly shook it in agreement, but Ten saw the tears falling down her cheeks. He decided it was time for him to go back in and give his friend some time alone.  
  
“I’m going to go back inside now okay? I’ll see you in there soon. Please don’t cry too much. I'm really sorry.” He said, giving her hands a tiny squeeze.  
  
Ten walked into the classroom not looking back even once and forcing his thoughts into a state of calm until the end of class.

Dawn came in right when class ended and left after collecting her materials. She didn’t look at him even once. Ten’s shoulders slumped.  
  
As soon as she left, Ten asked their teacher if he could borrow the phone. Ten called his mom and asked her to come pick him up. On other days, he would walk back home without a problem but today, he needed to talk to his mom. He told her that it was an emergency and his mom told him she’d take some time since she was still at work. Ten agreed to wait in the little garden near his art class.  
  
~~  
  
When Ten’s mom walked into the garden she found him crying his eyes out sitting on the bench hidden partly by a bush. She hurried over to sit next to him and hugged him close.  
  
“What happened Ten? Did someone hurt you? Please talk to me.”  
  
Ten kept sobbing and turned into his mom’s side and hid his face in her coat so his mom patted his back until he calmed down. His sobs turned to sharp little huffs of breath and he slowly pushed away from his mom, refusing to meet her eyes.  
  
“Okay sweetie, how about this, I’ll go get us some ice cream, you take these tissues and wipe your tears and nose. I’ll come back and then we can talk okay?”  
  
Ten nodded, thankful his mom realised that he needed a moment to collect himself. He saw her jog over to the general store right across the park and wiped his nose and eyes.  
  
When she came back she handed him a plain vanilla cup.  
  
“Tell me what happened.”  
  
Ten hesitated and said, “I got kissed today. By Dawn.”  
  
“You mean the little girl with the curly hair?”  
  
“She’s my age mom and yes, her.” He huffed.  
  
“You’re always going to be my little baby. Okay so what happened? Do you not like her?”  
  
Ten shook his head.  
  
“No of course I like her mom but...but only as a friend! I don’t see her that way...mom..I don’t see anyone that way. Recently, at school, so many of the girls have been coming to talk to me and my friends tell me I should feel proud that I’m so popular with the girls. But I don’t feel good I just feel dreadful. I don’t see myself liking any of them!” Ten’s voice got higher and higher as he spoke.  
  
“Okay baby, that’s okay you’re young and it takes time for people to like other people in that way. That doesn’t make you or the situation dreadful. It’s just how it is. Don’t blame yourself for things you can’t control okay.”  
  
“But mom...when Dawn kissed me today, it just felt wrong. My friends who have been kissed, told me it feels wonderful and light and kinda scary but in a good way. I just felt..icky. Is something wrong with me?”  
  
His mom looked him right in the eyes at that.  
  
“Listen son, nothing is wrong with you. Firstly, you’re too young to have to think about such problems but I’m glad you’re willing to open up to me to discuss these things. We’ve talked about how it’s not always boys and girls who fall in love right? Boys can love boys and girls can love girls and sometimes some people like being alone and how everything is fluid.”  
  
Ten nodded slowly, tears springing to his eyes again. His mom pushed his chin up to make him look at her.  
  
“Ten, you’re too young to be thinking about labels. Heck I don’t think you even need to label yourself! You know we will accept you no matter who you love or what you do as long as it’s not criminal or dangerous or something. But if you want to find out how all of this works, I’d be happy to help you as much as I can and so would your dad. He might be a bit awkward though. Society is cruel Ten, but you have to know that we will always love you.”  
  
Ten’s tears overflowed and he shuffled awkwardly into his mom’s arms and they hugged for a long time, their ice creams melting and forgotten.  
  
~~  
  
Ten was 12 years old when he had his first kiss and realised he might not like girls the way all of his other friends do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Baby Ten's painfully awkward and upsetting first kiss   
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update for NCTzen Day~

“ _Dear Spectacular Tennington,_ _  
__  
__How are you amigo? I’m doing pretty well_ _now that we’re finally on summer break! It was getting unbearably hot in school and on the courts. I’m so thankful our school doesn’t have an indoor court for basketball. I would’ve either melted like ice cream or suffocated completely. But I’m doing pretty well in the team! I got placed in the regulars as a defender thanks to how tall I am and how long my limbs are (even though my mom calls me a noodle now) Jaehyun’s also a regular member but he plays as an attacker. For how...average his height is the kid’s reach is amazing. I wish you could see us play. We won the district matches this time! I got a medal with the other team members!_ _  
__  
__In case you were wondering, I have already done all of my summer homework and I plan to laze around for the rest of this blissful period of time. My grades this time were okay too! Mom and Dad said I did well enough so I’m not all that bothered. I got a good grade in English and History ahaha._ _  
__  
__Summers here are really really hot but I’m guessing they’re probably worse there. I hope you’re taking care of yourself Ten and not doing too many things at a time. I’m sure a lot of people, like me, already know that you’re super awesome and super hardworking and a really nice person. So you don’t have to do so many things at the same time..I mean you can if you want to but I just worry because it’s never good to overdo things. That’s what my dad told me. Try to chill during your holidays and have fun okay!_ _  
__  
The other day just before school ended_ _-_ ”  
  
~~  
  
Johnny and Jaehyun were walking down the street to the grocery store to meet up with Taeyong and Taeil. The four of them were now a kind of unit that moved around together be it in school or in their neighborhood. Jaehyun stayed ten minutes away from Johnny’s place so he usually biked his way to them every evening after finishing homework.  
  
Taeyong and Taeil were waiting outside the store with a bag full of what looked like rapidly melting ice creams.  
  
It was summer and the boys were finally on break from everything related to school. They had decided to spend the days playing and some nights staying over at each other’s houses. Taeyong’s parents had gone on a vacation, leaving his older sister in charge, so they usually stayed over at his house when they had movie nights. It was fun staying up past midnight even though it made all of them groggy and grumpy the next day.

Johnny and Jaehyun jogged over to the two boys and Jaehyun grabbed the bag from Taeyong’s hands. Taeyong couldn’t suppress a little blush at the contact and Taeil smirked at his reaction. Luckily Jaehyun was peeking into the bag to see how much the ice creams had melted to notice Taeil's expression when he let out a cry of dismay.  
  
“Guys we might have to drink most of our ice creams!” He said sadly.  
  
The others sighed and took their own packets and walked to the park. They sat down and carefully maneuvered the surviving bits of their ice creams so that it wouldn’t drip so much. A little bit dripped down Jaehyun’s arm and Taeyong sprang up from beside him and wiped it off with the hanky in his pocket.  
  
Both boys blushed as they pulled away. Jaehyun muttered a thanks and Taeyong nodded in response.  
  
Taeil and Johnny watched this whole exchange with amusement, still finishing up their cups. They proceeded to ignore the two who had drifted off into their own world and decided to have a conversation between themselves.   
  
Taeil turned to Johnny and said, "Hey so you haven’t spoken about Ten recently! How is he doing?”  
  
Johnny smiled and said, "Oh he’s doing good. He’s super busy so his letters have gotten kinda short. He’s doing so many after school classes and gymnastics and piano and now he’s also taken up drawing classes apparently. They'e also gotten...not as regular. Like usually his used to come right in the second week of the month but now..I don't know they kind of come in the last few days.” He shrugged, sucking on his ice cream spoon.  
  
Jaehyun and Taeyong turned look at him at this point, popping the bubble they had created around themselves.  
  
“Are you alright with that?” Jaehyun asked him with wide eyes.  
  
“Of course, I mean I do miss his longer letters but I’m totally okay you know. He really is super busy!”  
  
Taeyong nods and Jaehyun goes back to finishing up his ice cream which had turned into flavored milk.  
  
Johnny sticks the wooden ice cream spoon in his mouth and falls back into the grass.  
  
He missed Ten more than he let on. Which was weird considering they just spoke to each other through a letter a month. ‘ _I suppose I got used to the length of the letters I guess..’_ Johnny thought to himself. The number of doodles on the paper had also gone down significantly and a little part of Johnny worried for the younger boy. He hoped that Ten wasn’t spreading himself too thin. He couldn’t handle more than his school work and after school basketball practices. It amazed him how the Thai boy was managing all of his extracurriculars along with his school work, which he claimed he paid no attention to, but his grades said otherwise. They weren’t excellent, but for someone doing every single thing on the planet they were far above average. Johnny sighed and closed his eyes trying to picture the chubby little boy he met in the bathroom so many years ago.  
  
Johnny thinks to himself that Ten was probably the first proper friend he made in his whole life. His friends from America do still speak to him but he notices the gap created by the distance between them. With Taeil and Taeyong and Jaehyun, they’re his closest friends here but none of them make him feel as warm and as content as Ten does. Even though it’s not really _Ten_ but just his letters. He wonders if it's weird that he's only met his apparent best friend only once in his life. They've never even sent pictures of each other, the thought always being forgotten in the excitement to get the letter to the post.  
  
~~  
  
He was trying to imagine Ten concentrating and writing the nice letters he was always happy to receive when Taeil poked his cheek and pointed to the sky. They had all dozed off in the park and it had started to get darker. He pushed himself up and both of them went to shake Taeyong and Jaehyun awake. Taeyong was leaning on the tree and Jaehyun was leaning on his side. Johnny wished he had a camera at that moment, but he didn’t so he woke them up. They all stretched and mumbled about how they didn’t get to play anything because they dozed off and then started heading back to their respective houses. Jaehyun and Johnny went the same way since Jaehyun’s bike was kept on the road near his house.  
  
As they were walking back, comfortable silence stretching between them, Johnny noticed that Jaehyun had a little pout on his face and he was frowning at the pavement like he was thinking very hard about something. He felt like mentioning whatever was going on with Taeyong but he decided to ask later when the younger boy looked less confused about what was going on as well. Instead, he smiled and threw an arm around hiss shoulder. Jaehyun kept walking, unfazed by Johnny's sudden affection since the taller boy did stuff like that frequently. They both walked like that for a little bit until-  
  
“Last one to my house has to buy ice cream for the other for a week!!” Johnny suddenly shrieked into Jaehyun’s ear.  
  
As Jaehyun jumped in surprise, Johnny cackled and darted off, long limbs carrying him further by the second, his friend hot on his heels.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone please stop Jaehyun and Taeyong from being so gross and cute thanks!  
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8.A  
> Johnny and Ten

_Johnny and Ten meet in person again when Ten is 13 and Johnny is 14 years old.  
_  
~~  
  
It was a regular Sunday morning, the sun was shining weakly because the sky was overcast and his mom was making pancakes in the kitchen. The sweet smell filling the whole house. Johnny was sat on the sofa with the newest letter in his hands. When he opened the envelope, a tiny piece of card paper fell out and Johnny frowned. Ten never sent...cards. Even his birthday envelopes had huge handmade cards made on fancy handmade paper. He never used card paper. Ever. Johnny looked into the envelope, thinking that perhaps, the actual letter got stuck to the sides. Finding nothing in the envelope, Johnny turned the card over with a frown.  
  
“ _J_ _OHNNY SEO!!!!HELLO!! OKAY LISTEN TO ME I AM COMING TO KOREA WITH MY FAMILY THIS LETTER IS SHORT BECAUSE I AM SHAKING AS I WRITE IT BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW!! I’M COMING NEXT MONTH AND I’M SENDING THIS BY EXPRESS SO THAT YOU GET IT FASTER!! I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!! I’VE STAPLED A COPY OF MY ITINERARY TO THIS LETTER YOU BETTER COME SEE ME AT THE AIRPORT!! (It won’t disturb your schedule since I’m coming in the night on a Friday and we can meet on Saturday since you don’t have school or practise that day! We’ll plan at the airport) ANYWAYS I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU MY DUDE!!_  
_  
_ _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”_

Then there was a small drawing of a bird exploding into confetti.  
  
~~  
  
Johnny upon reading the super short card, had squealed and jumped three feet into the air in their living room and immediately started pacing around at top speed, alarming his mom.  
  
She approached him like someone would approach a wild animal.  
  
“Johnny...are you..are you o-”

“MOMTENISCOMINGTOKOREANEXTMONTH!!” He shrieked excitedly at her.  
  
His mom startled at the sudden loud noise, but when she registered the words her son had yelled at her, she gave him a huge smile and grabbed his hands and did a little happy dance with him.  
  
Later, at the dinner table, Johnny and his family discussed how to make sure that Ten has a good time in Korea. Johnny suggested taking him for a tour of Seoul and feeding him the usual stuff that Korea’s famous for.  
  
“That’s a good idea Johnny but we’ll invite him home one day too. You did tell me he was joining his parents on a business trip and that they were all staying in a hotel right? We could invite him over on Monday or something and have him stay a day! That way we can make him some homestyle Korean food and you can catch up with him easily too!”  
  
“But..I have school on Monday?”  
  
His parents cackled.

“Just skip a day. It’s no big deal. You’re both meeting after years!”  
  
Johnny’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and he jumped up with happiness. His parents laughed fondly at him, his dad ruffling his overly long straight hair. They discussed how everything would work and that his mom would take him to the airport the night that Ten and his family would arrive. They could take the big car and drop them off at the hotel since it was on the way to their house.  
  
~~  
  
The next day, on the way to school Johnny babbled excitedly about the previous evening’s developments to Taeil and Taeyong and Jaehyun. All three of them expressed their happiness for their friend and talked about how awesome it was going to be when Johnny and Ten met again.  
  
“You have to let us meet him too Johnny Seo! As your best friends, we have rights,” said Taeil, mock grumpy.  
  
“Yeah! You better, you keep gushing about him all the time and we always listen! So we deserve to meet him okay.” Jaehyun said, copying Taeils tone of voice.  
  
Johnny flicked Jaehyun on the forehead to which the younger boy flinched and made a face at him.  
  
“No of course I’m not going to let my best friends meet my other best-pen-friend of 7 years. I’m going to keep him all to myself and not see you guys while he’s here either!” Johnny says eyebrows, furrowed in a frown.  
  
The three boys turned with hurt looks in their eyes and Johnny’s expression melted into a giggle.  
  
“I was just kidding guys, I had already planned out a full day where we all hang out and show Ten around the neighborhood. Basketball is also involved.” Johnny added looking at Jaehyun who smiled his biggest smile at him.  
  
Taeil and Jaehyun walk ahead and discuss how they’re going to make sure Ten has the best time when Taeyong speaks up quietly from beside Johnny. The two boys are walking together slowly, with Taeyong glancing at Jaehyun from time to time.  
  
“Johnny...can I ask you something?”  
  
Johnny looks at his friend startled out of his daydreams about Ten finally meeting his friends.  
  
“Shoot!”  
  
“How..um..how do you know you and Ten will get along like you do in your letters when you meet in person?”  
  
Johnny stares at his friend, slightly dumbstruck. Taeyong didn’t speak much but when he did, he always said important things.  
  
“I mean to say Johnny, and please don’t get me wrong, but both of you have been speaking only through letters and drawings. You both don’t even know what the other looks like anymore. And people are so complicated. He could be a different person in real life you know. I mean he could still be the lovely and bubbly, hardworking boy you keep talking about, but it’s possible that something could strike you as weird or there could be something you find out you don’t like about his behaviour or personality. I really don’t want to rain on your parade Johnny. But I..I just want you to protect your heart, in case of disappointment.”  
  
Johnny listens carefully to every word that Taeyong says and takes a deep breath in and lets it out. The two continue walking with Jaehyun and Taeil’s banter providing them with background noise.  
  
“I know what you mean to say Taeyong. Like...I’ve built a castle in my head but it turns out to be a sandcastle and gets washed away? I know what you mean. I think some part of me is scared about the same thing as well. But I have a feeling somewhere deep down, that Ten and I and you guys, when you meet him, are going to get along really well. The only other alternative here is that I don’t meet him and we never get to find out how good we are as friends in real life. And I think I would like to take the chance and face the possibility of disappointment. What’s the point in anything if you don’t take a chance am I right? Thank you for being concerned though Taeyong. I love you my dude.”  
  
Taeyong looks at him, his ears turning pink from shyness and says, "Y-Yeah dude I love you too..just looking out for my best buddy.”  
  
Johnny throws an arm around Taeyong’s neck and they both walk quickly to catch up with the other two and continue on towards their houses, Taeyong looking like he’s in deep thought and Johnny looking very excited.  
  
~~  
  
The day of Ten’s arrival finally comes after what feels like a month that passed by super slowly and super quickly at the same time and Johnny is unable to sleep throughout the night. He has his outfit picked out for the airport. But before he and his mom could go there, he had an entire days worth of school to endure. He got up from his bed where he had been tossing and turning the entire night, effectively getting zero sleep and got ready for his day at school. He knew he probably looked like a zombie but his mom said nothing when she looked at his face so he didn’t overthink it when he ate breakfast.  
  
The day proceeded like every other Friday. Taeyong, Taeil and Jaehyun came to pick him up and he went to school with them. The three boys throwing smirks and smart-ass comments his way the whole walk there.  
  
Classes felt like they were at least 200 times slower than normal and Johnny couldn’t help that his leg kept jiggling and hitting the underside of his table throughout the day. Taeyong kept throwing him concerned glances and more smirks. The funniest expression Taeyong sent his way during Math class when his leg jiggled so hard his books flew off of the table. It was a mixture of concern, a smirk and that face someone makes when they want to hold in their laughter. Johnny had no idea how the other boy had even managed to make that expression.  
  
Finally at the end of classes, Johnny rushed to basketball practise and finished his warm ups at top speed. His coach gave them a new play to practise and time flew by as the went through it again and again. Johnny only got hit in the head twice but he claimed to be hard headed so no one really made a big deal out of it except Jaehyun who laughed so hard that he fell on the ground and needed a time out.  
  
At the end of basketball practise, Taeyong and Taeil joined them and the four boys started their trek back home. Walking slightly faster than normal because Johnny was basically speed walking. Suddenly Taeyong’s voice stopped them all in their tracks.  
  
“Hey..uh Jaehyun can I speak to you for a bit?” he looked at Taeil and Johnny and said, “you both go ahead it’s..it’s going to take some time. It’s kinda important.” Taeyong looked straight at Jaehyun, who nodded slowly and fell back to Taeyong's side.  
  
The two boys waved Johnny and Taeil goodbye and walked in the general direction of the park. Taeil sighed and Johnny smiled at the older boy.  
  
“Finally huh...I hope Taeyongie does it properly. We won’t be there this time to push him on.”  
  
Johnny smiles at the fond memory of how he met the two of them and nods.  
  
“So..you’re..really okay with Taeyongie and Jaehyun?”  
  
“Of course I am! Did you think I was someone who discriminated?” Taeil looks shocked.  
  
“No!! NO! I just..I felt like you had a crush on Taeyong for some reason...?”  
  
“Ah..no.. I have always seen him as a sibling. I already have someone I like anyways.” The older boy says cryptically.  
  
“What! WHO?? You never told us!” Johnny whirls around and accuses him.  
  
Taeil giggles and says,”That’s a story for another time. 'Kay now go inside Johnny! Look we’re already at your house and you have to be at the airport soon!”  
  
“But-”

“Bye!!” Taeil singsongs with a huge grin and jogs off in the direction of his house, leaving Johnny standing with his mouth open in front of his door.  
  
Johnny huffs and walks in, sees his mom getting ready to go and suddenly forgets all about Taeil, filing it away for later. He throws his bag in his room, has a quick shower and wears his airport clothes. He’s just about done brushing his hair when his mom calls him down and tells him to get in the car.  
  
Johnny takes the stairs two at a time and flies out of the door and straps himself in the passenger seat in record time. His mom gets into the car a minute after him and Johnny’s already vibrating in his seat. She checks and double checks that they have everything and finally ( _finally_ ) they set off.  
  
~~  
  
The drive is tortuously long, with the usual Seoul traffic and he mentally thanks his mom for starting an hour and a half earlier than Ten’s time of arrival. They make it to the airport with thirty minutes to spare. Johnny and his mom find a seat at the surprisingly packed arrivals waiting area and sit and wait. His mom eventually got up to buy them both some snacks to munch on while they waited because Johnny had refused to move from their spot near the gate, claiming someone would take it over if both of them left, when really, his legs were too shaky (but he would never admit it to her). Johnny’s sweating slightly because of anticipation and a little bit of trepidation, Taeyong’s words from their discussion swirling in his head. What if he and Ten don’t get along, will they stop sending letters, it could get so awkward, would their friendship end? Johnny can’t help it when his leg starts jiggling again and his mom grabs his hand and helps him calm down.  
  
  
15 minutes  
  
Johnny’s playing on his Nintendo and trying to get his mind off of the situation.  
  
10 minutes

Johnny puts his Nintendo away and gets up to take a walk around the area.  
  
5 minutes  
  
Johnny walks back to his mom and sits next to her, grabbing her hand for support. She grips it back just as tight.  
  
  
“ _F_ _light number TH508AB has landed.”_  
  
  
The screen changes the status of Ten’s plane and Johnny shoots up, unable to keep still any longer. He and his mom rush to the part of the barrier right in front of the arrivals gate and Johnny pulls out a welcome board that he had painstakingly made the weekend prior. It said in bold colourful letters “TEN AND FAMILY, WELCOME TO SOUTH KOREA!” and had a cutout of a Pigeoto and Charmander stuck  on the sides. Johnny hoped Ten would notice it whenever they came out. He glanced down at his outfit, a gray t shirt, this time with a band on it that they both liked and blue jeans and a cream jacket. Reminiscent of the outfit he wore the first time they met. He hoped Ten would recognise that as well.  
  
Several minutes pass and nothing happens. Johnny starts getting fidgety, but his mom remained calm. He turned to her and asked her what was happening and she told him how customs and all of those formalities take a while. Johnny remembered how long they had taken when they’d shiften to Korea from America and nodded. His excitement was slowly dwindling and his shoulders slumped.  
  
Suddenly the gates opened and a huge number of people walked out of them at the same time. Johnny’s eyes scanned the crowd frantically, his heart-rate picking up. Everyone was walking out at the same time and he couldn’t make out anyone in particular.  
  
Just then, his eyes landed on a boy with longish, jet black hair, wearing a soft blue button down and a black coat. The boy looked right at him, a little frown on his face and Johnny’s heart stuttered because _those eyes_ . The boy’s eyes shifted down to where Johnny’s sign was being held in his limp hands. Johnny slowly raised the sign and the boy’s eyes sparkled with recognition and his face broke into a huge smile. Johnny’s heart stopped.  
  
The boy ran straight toward Johnny, luggage forgotten and jumped right over the railing. He hugged Johnny tight, half hanging over the railing, his arms thrown around Johnny’s neck. The boy giggled brightly and Johnny stood there with both arms raised over his head, still holding the sign, completely petrified.  
  
The boy pulled back and stood in front of Johnny. The boy awkwardly scratched his neck, probably feeling embarrassed about the extremely public display of affection he showed. Johnny’s hands came down and his face broke into a smile.  
  
  
“Ten.” He said softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT HAPPENED FOLKS! They met again!!  
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8.B  
> Jaehyun and Taeyong

**Autumn**  
  
It’s a sort of windy day the first time Jaehyun and Taeyong meet. Kind of poetic in a way, both of them falling into each other’s lives the same way the leaves fell to the ground because of the wind. Inevitable, one could say.  
  
~~  
  
“Lee Taeyong, please come to the staff room immediately.” An assistant teacher announced in their classroom.  
  
Taeyong sighed and stretched out, ignoring the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from his classmates. They knew well enough that he was being called out for some class rep thing. He wondered how they never got tired of making the noises each time. He straightened his glasses and glanced back at Johnny, patted the taller boy’s shoulder and went out of the class.

As he walked to the staff room, he wondered what it could be that required his help from the teachers. He was one of the younger class reps who was called upon frequently because he was very reliable and had a good head on his shoulders (which is what his teacher had told his mom during the first Parent-Teacher meeting after he had been chosen as class rep). It was either something to do with the disciplinary rules or the printer or (Taeyong shuddered) showing a prospective student or someone from a prospective student’s family around the school. He hated that part of his duties the most. Taeyong was innately a very shy and soft spoken boy. Even though he had a great ability to lead people, his soft hearted nature made him very susceptible to a mild level of social anxiety, making him scared of new people and of talking to them.

He walked into the staff room, bowing his head at the teachers and made his way to the teacher who called him to their desk. There was a kid standing with his back to him and Taeyong felt his heart sink when he realised that he had to show someone around the school.  His teacher saw him and beckoned him to come over faster.  
  
“Ah yes, this is Lee Taeyong. He’s one of the class reps from Grade 6. He’s a very reliable boy and will show you around and answer all of your questions!” The teacher smiled encouragingly to the boy who still had his back to Taeyong.  
  
Taeyong reached the desk and stood right beside the boy, who was slightly shorter than him. He took a deep breath to steel his mind and told himself to calm down and turned to the stranger. The boy turned at the exact same time and Taeyong smiled brightly (his fake you’re a confident guy smile).  
  
“Hello!” He said and the boy startled a little and nodded back in greeting, looking mildly frightened.  
  
“Taeyong, this is Jung Jaehyun. He’s transferred to our school and will be joining us tomorrow onwards in the 5th grade. It’s extremely short notice for a tour and for him to get used to the building, but his family just finished shifting to this neighborhood today morning. Anyways, I’m sure if anyone can help him, it’s you. Go ahead now!” The teacher smiled and shooed them both away.  
  
Taeyong and Jaehyun walked out of the staffroom, with Taeyong in the lead. Both of then walked a bit and stopped near a watercooler. Taeyong pushed his glasses up again, trying to gather his courage to speak to this stranger.  
  
“Hello Jaehyun, I’m Taeyong, from Grad 6 and I’ll show you around our school. If you have any questions please let me know, I’ll do my best to answer them!” Taeyong kept smiling.  
  
Jaehyun looked a bit nervous when he said, “Uhm..Hello Taeyong-hyung..can I call you hyung? I’m Jung Jaehyun. I’m actually supposed to be in the 4th grade right now, but they made me skip a year. I’m actually very scared right now since this is a new school and a new place and I will be with older kids.” Jaehyun babbled out in one breath.  
  
Taeyong’s eyes widened at that and he couldn’t help but exclaim, this time a genuine smile replacing his fake one, “Oh wow, you must be really, really smart then huh? Don’t worry Jaehyun, this is a good school. I don’t think anyone will bother you, but if they do, let me know and I’ll teach them a lesson. Oh and yeah, you can call me hyung.”  
  
Jaehyun’s nervousness slowly faded away and got replaced with a shy smile, his ears turning pink. Taeyong suddenly felt very proud of himself for having made the boy smile. They started walking around the campus and Taeyong showed him the building from outside, pointing out the various floors. He then walked him around the small-ish campus, towards the track and field ground, the football field and the basketball court. Jaehyun cheered up when he saw that and Taeyong’s anxiety melted away as time passed. The boy was surprisingly easy to talk to once the initial feeling of meeting a complete stranger wore off. Taeyong took him to the cafeteria and explained how their lunch breaks work. Then he took him up to the chemistry and biology labs (open for the older students only), the library and the art classes. Taeyong then took Jaehyun down the floors to the auditorium and explained how the annual programs and graduations take place there. How the school has students from the 5th grade all the way to the 12th grade.  
  
~~  
  
They had been walking for a long time so Taeyong suggested that they step outside to the small garden for a bit. Taeyong left Jaehyun on a bench and went to get them something to drink. When he returned he saw Jaehyun sitting back with his eyes closed, feeling the autumn breeze with a small smile playing on his lips. He saw dimples gracing the shorter, chubby boy’s cheeks and something in Taeyong’s heart twinged. He walked over to Jaehyun, tapped his shoulder and handed him the drink.  
  
“Thank you hyung!” He exclaimed with a smile.  
  
“No problem. Do you already have the uniform and your books?”  
  
“Oh yeah, we ordered the books to the house and they were on the porch when we reached there this morning. I have to go pick up the uniform right after this.”  
  
“Why didn’t your parents come?”  
  
“Oh..they’re kind of busy setting up the house and it’s not that far from school so I just told them I’d go myself. I was trying to be brave and grown up but I got really scared when I got here.” Jaehyun giggled nervously.  
  
“Well...I hope you’re less scared now.”  
  
“Oh yes definitely hyung all..all thanks to you!” He said shyly.  
  
Taeyong blushed a little at the compliment and told Jaehyun they were nearing the end of the tour. Jaehyun’s face dropped a little at that, but he got up from the bench and dusted his bottom. They both went back into the building and at Jaehyun’s insistence, ended the tour with Taeyong showing the younger boy his own classroom from the corridor windows.  
  
“Oh wow your classroom is really nice!” Jaehyun exclaimed.  
  
Taeyong looked at the charts and handmade posters on the wall, the little arts and crafts projects the students had made hanging off of hooks and nodded.  
  
“Yeah it is..”  
  
He looked at Jaehyun and the boy smiled back at him, knowing the tour was now over. His heart twinged again and he discreetly rubbed at his chest, pretending he was scratching it.  
  
He shoved his hand forward stiffly and said, “Well it’s been great Jaehyun! It was really nice to meet you and I hope you have a great time at this school.”  
  
Jaehyun looks at Taeyong’s hand, then at Taeyongs face, quickly wipes his hand on his jeans and shakes Taeyong’s hand. Taeyong feels a pang of affection at that and smiles at Jaehyun.  
  
“You know the way to the staff room now right? You need to tell any of the teachers that you’ve finished your tour and then you can be on you way home! I have to go back to class now.” Taeyong says.  
  
“Oh yeah, hyung explained the routes pretty well so I remember. Thank you so much for helping me, even though I know it must be weird to talk so much to a complete stranger. It was scary at first for me but you were so nice that I didn’t feel scared anymore!” Jaehyun says brightly.  
  
Taeyong goes completely red at that and drops Jaehyun’s hand to scratch at his neck.  
  
“Yeah it’s a bit weird, but you seemed like a good kid so I didn’t feel too strange. I really have to go now Jaehyun, I can feel my science teacher glaring at me. Have a great time in school tomorrow onwards and you can come to me if you need any help! Please get home safe as well!”  
  
Jaehyun smiles sweetly at that and says, “Yeah hyung he is kinda staring haha! I’ll get going now! Bye bye!”  
  
Jaehyun starts jogging towards the staffroom and turns around, running backwards while waving goodbye to the older boy. Taeyong waves back, feeling slightly (really) drained for some reason and opens the door to their class. In the minute that it takes him to get back to his seat, Taeyong’s brain goes through a million different emotions he doesn’t understand and then feels like it’s been fried completely except for one thought and one image ringing and echoing in his head. The image being, Jaehyun sitting with his eyes closed on the bench and feeling the breeze and the thought being,  _he’s beautiful’_.  
  
  
**The Next Day**  
  
Jaehyun notices Taeyong walking towards them with another boy before Taeyong notices Jaehyun. And Jaehyun effectively panics, poking Johnny, his new hyung-friend-teammate-person in this new school.

“Hyung you know Taeyong-hyung?”  
  
“Yeah him and the other boy, Taeil-hyung, are my best friends here! I want to introduce them to you! You’ll like them!”  
  
Jaehyun’s eyes felt like they were going to pop out of his skull when this brand new bit of information was thrown at him. He started panicking even more, unsure of what to do or how to conduct himself so that his nerves aren’t as obvious.  
  
“AH..uhm..no that’s totally c-cool I’ll meet them some other da-”  
  
Jaehyun mentally punched himself for stuttering when Taeyong and Taeil walked up to them. It was so awkward speaking to Taeyong again. Jaehyun wanted to run away so bad because he felt his face heat up. He saw Johnny give him a look and then look at Taeil. Was he being that obvious?

Jaehyun tried to reason with himself and tried to tell himself to calm down. It made zero sense for Jaehyun to react like this to the kind hyung who had shown him around the school despite feeling awkward himself. Jaehyun was very young, but he was perceptive in some ways. Being perceptive, also made him realise that he has probably developed a tiny little crush on the older boy. Jaehyun smacked himself mentally again. How could he develop a crush on a boy he met a day ago and with whom he had only spoken in a formal setting?  
  
Well, if that was the problem, another part of his brain started working, wouldn’t this be the perfect opportunity to get to know him better? But the nervous part of Jaehyun’s brain won over and after some very painfully awkward conversation, Jaehyun made up a weak excuse about classes or something and bolted. He was so relieved to be away from Taeyong and away from the suffocating feeling he got around the older boy. He biked his way back home while trying to calm his thoughts.  
  
  
**Spring**  
  
A lot of moments led up to this, Taeyong thought to himself. It had been two years since Jaehyun had joined their friends circle and Taeyong had seen him grow. Jaehyun was now weirdly scrawny, limbs awkwardly long on his stocky body. But the boy had grown taller and Taeyong was afraid one day Jaehyun might grow taller than him. He observed Jaehyun out of the corner of his eye, clutching the strap of his bag, to center himself. He'd not worn his glasses and he felt more confident. He had prepared himself for this. They were walking in stifling silence, something that usually never happened, their silences being comfortable, because Jaehyun knew Taeyong was quiet and he respected that. The younger boy looked tense.  
  
Taeyong thought back to some moments that had passed since the day Jaehyun came into his life, the silence as they walked to the park overpowering any possibility of a conversation. The time Jaehyun had stuffed his face with the kimbap Taeyong had made for the first time and had looked like a beaver, the time Jaehyun had given the special cookie he had brought to Johnny who had been extremely tired after an exam. The time Jaehyun and Taeyong had run home through the rain, slipping and sliding on the wet roads, looking like wet cats by the time they got to their houses, minds happy and laughs giddy. The time Taeyong had wiped some ice cream from the younger boy’s arm and they had made eye contact and it had felt _different_. The time Jaehyun performed a silly choreography to make Taeil-hyung smile when he had had a rough day, even though Jaehyun hated doing things like that. Jaehyun’s smiles, his barking laughter, his huffs of _“Hyung!”_ whenever he got frustrated with something or got exasperated at something Taeyong did.  
  
All of the countless little things piled up and they were pouring out of Taeyongs heart, filling his body. He was bursting at the seams. He felt so bad for taking the spotlight away from Johnny who was finally meeting one of his oldest and bestest friends for the first time after many many years. But he had needed to do this.  
  
They finally reached the park, still silent except for the sounds of Jaehyun’s bike being pushed between them. Jaehyun locked it in the public bicycle stand and they made their way to one of the benches. The park had a few kids playing in it, but since it was still early in the evening, it wasn’t packed. Taeyong dropped his bag on the bench and turned to Jaehyun, who was placing his backpack and practice bag on the bench slowly, like he was afraid. When Jaehyun was done, he turned to Taeyong but didn’t meet his eyes, choosing to look at the ground.  
  
“Jaehyun, can you please look at me?” Taeyong asked him with a soft voice.  
  
Jaehyun slowly brought his head up and he looked really afraid, like Taeyong was going to scold him. Taeyong felt something crack in his heart.  
  
“I-”  
  
“Hyung, you really don’t have to do this you know. I mean I know I’ve been kind of obvious and everything but I respect you so much and I will always stay your friend and I won’t push for anything hyung, especially since it makes you awkward and I hate seeing you uncomfortable and I’m so so sorry I make you feel that way-” Jaehyun said in a rush.  
  
“Jaehyun what?” Taeyong cut off the younger boy’s frantic rambling.  
  
The younger boy took a deep breath and looked into Taeyong’s eyes with determination.  
  
“Hyung, I think you know that I like you and I know it makes you very uncomfortable. I know you’re only trying to be a good hyung to me and I’m so thankful that you take care of me. I’m sorry that my stupid brain keeps taking things you do as hints that you like me back but I know you don’t and I’m so sorry that I make you feel awkward because of how much I hover around you. I never want to make you feel uncomfortable.”  
  
“Jaehyun...you like me?”  
  
“Uh..yes?”  
  
“I...really?”  
  
“Yes I do and I know it’s not returned since you keep turning away from me or making faces like you’re constipated. And that’s okay! You’re entitled to your feelings. I’m trying to let you know that I’ll control it and make it go away. I’ll work on it I-”  
  
Taeyong gasps softly and Jaehyun stops his speech to look at the older boy. Taeyong had gone splotchy and red and he looked like he was holding his breath.  
  
“See hyung, I know I make you feel weird. Really don’t worry about it, this confrontation isn’t neces-”  
  
“Jaehyun shut up for once second and let me speak!” Taeyong exclaims, pinching the bridge of his nose.  
  
“Okay..”  
  
“Firstly, rude, I don’t look constipated. Secondly, what are you even going on about. Did I ever reject your hovering? Or you, in general?”  
  
“You do look constipated and no you never said anything but that look you get says it all.” Jaehyun says a little sadly.  
  
Taeyong shakes his head in amusement and steps closer to Jaehyun.  
  
“Jaehyun-ah, the reason I look like that is so that I don’t say something stupid or do something silly to you when you’re around me.”  
  
“Like hit me?”  
  
“ _NO!!_ Oh my god you idiot, I meant something like hug you or tell you that I like you...so much.”  
  
“What?” Jaehyun’s head snaps up to look at Taeyong who looks away shyly.  
  
“I brought you here today to tell you that I like you a lot and that it would be okay if you didn’t like me back. That I just needed to get the words out and I would get my feelings under control once you rejected me.”  
  
“You like me hyung? _Me?_ _Why??_ Also why would I reject you hyung? You’re amazing.” Jaehyun says, bordering on a little hysterical.  
  
Taeyong goes even more red and smacks Jaehyun’s shoulder. He grabs the younger boys hands in his and looks to him to see if it’s OK to do that, knowing that Jaehyun’s shy and awkward about physical contact. He gets his answer when Jaehyun grips his hands tighter. Taeyong smiles looking at their hands.  
  
“Uh...well it looks like my confession sort of backfired here but it seems we both..uh..we like each other...So..uh what now..?” Taeyong says shyly, swinging their hands a little.  
  
“What do you want to do hyung? I’ll be okay with anything.”  
  
“Jaehyun, you’re the nicest and kindest and the most beautiful boy I’ve met and..I kind of want to go out with you? I don’t know what that means since we’re both still kids but I just want to hang out with you more, without Johnny and Taeil sometimes. I’d also like to buy you snacks sometimes if that’s okay.”  
  
Jaehyun goes fully red and gives Taeyong his biggest smile, dimples making two deep craters on the side of his face. He steps closer to Taeyong and says, “Hyung I’d like that so much. But only if I get to buy you snacks too!” He giggles.  
  
Taeyong nods and rests his forehead on the younger boy’s. The both stand there, hands still held, foreheads touching and eyes closed and Taeyong feels an incredible sense of happiness and peace wash over him, his overflowing feelings finally getting the permission to be poured into the person they were meant for in the first place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to give Jaeyong some spotlight because this is going to be important for ~the future~  
> Also they're disgustingly cute and it's fun to write such cute stuff sometimes.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9.A

Johnny was staring at Ten and Ten was staring right back. They were still by the airport railing and probably wouldn’t have realised they needed to move until Ten’s parents tapped him on the head and Johnny’s mom poked his cheek and smirked when he startled out of it. Ten had startled slightly with a gasp when his parents had tapped his head. He turned to them and they gestured to the luggage. Ten jumped off the railing with a huff and held up a palm in Johnny’s direction (who was still kind of stunned from the whole hugging Ten... _Ten!_ in front of thousands of people) clearly telling him to wait. Johnny’s mom had hurried off to get the car around to the entrance and Johnny was left alone trying to comprehend what was happening. Ten went to his parents and the three of them dragged their suitcases out to the arrivals area, where Johnny’s mom greeted them properly as she got out of the car. Everyone got too occupied to speak until suitcases were stowed away and the adults and children had gotten into the car. Johnny’s mom had immediately started making pleasant conversation with Ten’s parents when Ten finally _(finally)_ spoke to Johnny.  
  
“Hi Johnny,” he said a little breathlessly with a big smile.  
  
Johnny blinked stupidly at him for a second and said, “Hey Ten..how..uh how are you?”  
  
Johnny scratched the side of his neck and  shook his head at how awkward this whole thing was now that the adrenaline from the big airport reunion was wearing off and they were sat, a little squished together in the quiet backseat of his mom’s car.  
  
“This is so awkward haha but, I’m good Johnny! So much better now that we can finally speak to each other in person!”  
  
Johnny blinked stupidly again, surprised at how Ten seemed to have read his mind and then grinned lazily at the smaller boy.  
  
“I know right it’s like we haven’t seen each other in years!”  
  
Ten barks out a laugh and slaps his shoulder at that and from there the conversation was easy, like they always had been in their letters. The two boys chattered on about things like Ten’s flight which was ‘ _Awful it was so cramped’_ and _‘How could it be cramped for you, you’re like..tiny’_  and playful punches to the shoulder and giggles of happiness. Johnny asked where Ten’s sister was and Ten told him that she’s staying with his grandma because she couldn’t get any days off from school and she has exams to give so they couldn’t even make her skip. They spoke about school, about how Ten’s going to cope with the work he’s going to have to do when he gets back and Ten tells him proudly that his grades are pretty good and that he will be able to manage. He asks Johnny about basketball and Johnny tells him how the games are going to start in a month so they’re all working hard. Johnny asks him about the art classes and sees Ten blushing very slightly and Johnny’s heart thumps a bit harder at the sight. Sometimes Ten and Johnny don’t speak because Ten’s too busy looking at the the new city zooming past the window. Johnny looks out his own window during this time and reads the names of the shops they’re driving past. Sometimes they talk to their parents making plans about the next day. The drive to Ten’s hotel is quite long and the adults, except for Johnny’s mom who is busy driving, eventually doze off in the middle seat, probably from the fatigue of the flight. Ten and Johnny keep talking for a long time until the smaller boy’s voice starts getting softer and his head starts drooping.  
  
“Hey it’s okay if you want to sleep you know the hotels still an hour away,” Johnny says gently.  
  
Ten blinks at him slowly and shakes his head, “No! we just met again a while ago I want to keep talking to you! I can’t sleep like a child!”  
  
Ten proceeds to smack his face to wake himself up and Johnny grabs his hands huffing out a laugh. He puts Ten’s hands back in his lap and stares for a minute at their hands and looks up at Ten who’s gone a bit pink again. Johnny doesn’t let go of his hands.  
  
“You’re here for a while and I’ll be right here when you wake up. Also your parents who are grown adults are sleeping. You can sleep too you know, we have time.”  
  
“But Johnny! I don’t wanna!” Ten whines.  
  
“Just sleep Ten you look really exhausted it’s really okay. Here you can sleep on my shoulder.” Johnny shoves his shoulder in front of Ten’s nose in an exaggerated way and Ten smiles up at him.  
  
“Hmm can I? I am kinda tired..” Ten mumbles before his head droops to the side and bumps against Johnny’s shoulder and the smaller boy falls asleep immediately, his breathing evening out. Johnny adjusts himself so that Ten’s able to sleep more comfortably and looks up to see his mom smiling at him. He shrugs at her helplessly with his free shoulder and sees that they’re still holding hands. Johnny looks out the window and sees Seoul passing by as Ten sleeps quietly beside him.  
  
~~  
  
Johnny shakes Ten awake gently when they reach the hotel and the younger boy looks so adorably disoriented that Johnny wants to pinch his cheeks, but holds himself back because that’s probably a weird thing to do. Ten mumbles something in Thai and stretches and rubs at his face before getting out the backseat with Johnny. Johnny and his mom help the family with their luggage before a porter takes it away and Johnny gapes in awe at how fancy the hotel is. Ten’s standing beside him and they have to say goodbye for the night because it had gotten pretty late thanks to the traffic and Johnny and his mom had to get back home.

Ten looked at Johnny, big eyes sparkling with the reflections from the hotel’s lobby. The younger boy grabbed his hands and Johnny startled a little at the sudden touch.  
  
“We’ll see each other tomorrow right? You’re going to...show me around Seoul tomorrow?” Ten asked him hesitantly.  
  
Not understanding why he was being so hesitant, Johnny gripped his hands back and said firmly, “Of course we are and of course I am! What kind of person would I be if I didn’t show my best friend around my city! I never got to show you around Chicago so I have to show you around Seoul!”  
  
“I’m..your best friend?” Ten glanced up at him.  
  
Johnny blinked not realising he’d said it and feels heat crawling up his neck.  
  
“Yeah obviously you are! I mean we’ve known each other and spoken to each other for six entire years now. If I didn’t consider you my best friend, I’d be the biggest jerk on the planet.”  
  
Ten laughs at Johnny’s stricken expression and raises one of his hands to pat soothingly at the taller boy’s shoulder. Johnny’s face relaxes at that and they both grin at each other.  
  
“So..see you tomorrow?”  
  
“You know it Johnny boy!”  
  
Johnny says goodnight to Ten and his family and they wave Johnny and his mom goodbye, with Ten and his mom shouting goodnights and see yous at them until their car leaves the driveway of the hotel. Johnny’s mom turns to him while they’re halfway home, soft music playing on the radio and says,”You seem really happy right now. I’m glad this is happening you know. You both met so long ago and it’s so wonderful you both are still friends. I was afraid things would get awkward but you two really..really get along so well. I’m happy for you Youngho-yah”  
  
Johnny beams happily at her, knowing how genuine she was being since she used his Korean name, which she rarely did when it was just them.  
  
“I am mom I’m so happy. You know Taeyong said something similar to what you just said and I was worried about it getting awkward too but he’s just! He’s fun to talk to and I can’t wait to hang out with him and have Taeil and Taeyong and Jaehyun meet him! It’s going to be great. For once, I’m excited about something other than the new episodes of my TV shows. Aren’t you proud?” He adds with a smirk.  
  
His mom smacks him lightly on the shoulder and laughs brightly. Her eyes look tired from having driven so much and it being late at night but her laughter seemed real and Johnny was so glad that she was his mom.  
  
“Yeah kiddo I’m proud of you. Also his parents are super nice too. His dad cracks the funniest jokes and his mom’s so nice too. I think I’ve found some friends in them. Weird how the world works sometimes.”  
  
Johnny leans back in his seat and they both talk about the Thai family for a bit until the conversation dies out in favour of listening to the music on the radio. They reach their house sometime around 2am and Johnny’s mom hurries off to bed immediately. Johnny, however stays awake at his desk for a while longer, his eyes burning because of the late hour and the single light of his desk lamp. He goes over and over the plan for tomorrow until he’s sure it’s lodged in his brain permanently, wishes he could dedicate this much time to memorise science stuff for school, closes his notebook and plonks face down onto bed and falls asleep not a minute later.  
  
**The Next Day**  
  
Johnny wakes up early with a mild headache, having stayed up way past his usual time during school days and being woken up by the shrill sound of his alarm blaring in his ear. He slams the top of the clock and tosses it carelessly on his carpet. Johnny turns back into his warm pillow and closes his eyes, grumbling confusedly about why he had an alarm set for Saturday morning when Saturdays were reserved to be Sleep Until Your Stomach Wakes You Up days when he startles with a jerk, all notions of more rest flying out of his head with only one single thought replacing it.  
  
‘ _Ten! Going to meet Ten!’_

He rushes to the bathroom, thanking all of the divine beings and science and the universe that his dad hadn’t taken the bathroom for his ‘long Saturday shower’ and brushes his teeth, looks in the mirror tugging angrily at his bed hair, sticking up at all angles and takes a quick shower. He rushes downstairs at glances quickly at the clock in the living room, letting out a relieved huff when he sees that it’s still 8am. ‘ _Ten’s probably not awake either at this time’_ , he thinks and helps himself to come cornflakes and milk. His parents were probably still sleeping and Johnny forces himself to remain calm, leg jiggling impatiently until his dad walks into the kitchen, eyes still half closed from sleep. Johnny’s mom was probably still asleep since she slept so late. His dad pets Johnny’s hair and grabs a bowl for some cornflakes and sits down to eat breakfast while Johnny stares at him impassively.  
  
“Morning Johnny, why and how are you dressed and clean at this ungodly hour on a Saturday if I may ask?”  
  
Johnny whines at his dad’s dry tone and says, “Ugh dad you know!! I have to go meet Ten soon and I had to wait for one of you to come out so that I could tell you I was leaving. And also...ask for some..uh allowance maybe?” Johnny adds awkwardly, amping up the puppy eyes and baby face.

Johnny’s dad let out a sigh that only a long suffering parent can give out and gestured for him to wait. He went back upstairs and came down with a tiny packet, which he placed in Johnny’s open hands.  
  
“Okay so there’s enough money in there to get you both through a day of tourist-y sightseeing and stuff, if you avoid the obvious tourist traps. There’s also a food card that’s been loaded. I’m sure Ten’s parents won’t let him out empty handed and if you two are smart about your expenses, you won’t be completely broke by the end of the day because we aren’t going to give you any more money this month or the next.” His dad says sternly.

Johnny nods, aware of how strict his parents were about money and spending it wisely. He puts the money and card into his wallet, makes sure his transport card is loaded and goes over the itinerary for the day with his dad one more time.  
  
“You call us immediately if there’s any problem okay?” His dad says as he’s wearing his sneakers.  
  
“Yeah dad don’t worry. I’m going to be fine!”  
  
His dad kisses the top of his head and waves him goodbye and Johnny breaks out into a light jog towards the metro station.  
  
Ten was pacing the lobby of the hotel. Johnny was going to come at any minute. They had said they would meet up at the hotel at 9.15 and then go around Seoul for the rest of the day. Ten’s parents already had a business meeting to attend so they weren’t going to be around and after a short discussion with them the previous night, Ten had been informed that they liked and trusted Johnny enough to send their son out into a foreign city with a boy they personally, barely knew. He had woken up super early that morning thanks to nervous jitters and had had an early breakfast after dressing carefully in a nice outfit (which he spent almost twenty minutes picking out). That’s how Ten found himself anxiously waiting for the other boy in the lobby with his little bag filled with his wallet, a notebook and some stationary, just in case he felt like drawing something. It was exactly 9.15am when Johnny walked through the revolving doors of the hotel, his eyes landing on Ten waiting by a potted plant before breaking out into a grin that made his eyes crinkle. Ten walked up to him and casually (not really) noted how good the taller boy looked in his simple ensemble of a green t-shirt, black jeans and sneakers. Johnny’s hair was really long, almost touching his neck, with his fringe covering the right side of his face. Ten giggled when he finally stood in front of him.  
  
“What?” Johnny asked him confusion written across his face.  
  
“You look like a MySpace emo-guy wannabe!” Ten cackled.  
  
“Excuse me is that how you greet your humble tour guide for the day?” Johnny asked mock anger making his face do something weird between a pout and an angry frown.  
  
Ten cackled harder at that.  
  
“No no! Hahaha..you look..nice also good morning Seo Johnny.”  
  
Johnny smiles happily and he says, “G’morning Ten, you look nice too! I like your shirt. Red suits you. Makes your skin..like..glow. Oh yeah, did you sleep well?”  
  
Ten gapes at the sudden compliment that had fallen so easily from the taller boy’s mouth before clicking his mouth shut and mumbling, "Yeah I slept well..how about you?”  
  
“Me too! Not really, I was kinda excited about today. On that note let’s get going we’ve got a lot of ground to cover! Let’s go!,” Johnny says loudly and tugs on Ten’s hand and they both walk out of the hotel with thai boy waving the staff in the lobby goodbye.  
  
For the rest of the day, Ten followed Johnny and both of them enjoyed being aggressively obnoxious tourists, taking idiotic pictures and doing silly stuff throughout their route. Sometimes Ten stopped them and he sketched out something he thought was pretty or interesting. Sometimes he sketched Johnny telling the taller boy to hold a pose or to stand somewhere. Ten wasn’t extremely happy with his drawings but he enjoyed how Johnny exclaimed and complimented them whenever Ten shyly showed them to him. They ran around the famous spots in the city occasionally taking the bus, Ten’s eye’s wide and concentrating on staring out the window trying to take everything in. At one point Ten wore a hanbok and Johnny was made to take 50 pictures of the event because the younger boy said so. Then Johnny was made to wear one and they took a couple photo together, annoying a middle-aged stranger when they jumped up to them and asked them to take their photo. By lunch they ended up at a meat place in Myeongdong and Johnny ordered them two huge portions of various kinds of meat and ginger-ale which they both somehow wiped off. They were talking excitedly when something caught Johnny’s eye and he made Ten a ssam the side of the younger boy’s hand. Ten’s eyes widened at it, realising that Johnny was going to feed it to him and he panicked and shook his head because his jaw would break, but Johnny insisted and shoved the giant ssam into Ten’s face and chuckled at how endearing he looked with his cheeks puffed out and eyes squinting because of his struggle to chew. Johnny noticed a bit of sauce smeared at the edge of the younger boy’s mouth and proceeded to wipe it off with his thumb. Ten would be lying if he said his face didn’t turn red at the gesture especially when the taller boy cleanly licked the sauce off his thumb before continuing on with his meal, talking about getting some ice cream or patbingsoo after their meal, oblivious to Ten’s little crisis. Thankfully his face was still stuffed and the redness in his could be attributed to the struggle he (really was) facing with the food. Johnny had managed to finish up his plate and had snuck a couple of Ten’s pieces from his plate before Ten finally swallowed the ssam down, exhaled loudly and smacked Johnny in the arm. Johnny laughed and Ten could only manage to keep being faux pissed off for two minutes before joining in the laughter and finishing off the remaining bits of his food.  
  
~~  
  
“What even gave you the idea of shoving that ssam into my mouth when you knew it would take me an entire hour to finish it?” Ten asked Johnny, his tone light but accusatory.  
  
They had ended up near the Han River and it was almost time for the sun to set so the whole city was bathed in a soft orange light and the air was turning cooler. People had started coming out for evening walks, aunties with their walking groups, men and women with their lovers or their families, kids with their friends. It was a pleasant tableau and the water made everything seem peaceful and serene. Johnny was feeling extremely content, having spent the whole day laughing and having fun with Ten, having had an excellent meal and delicious patbingsoo after. He was walking along with Ten in a comfortable silence, admiring the view, hands in his pockets and a definite lightness to his step when he heard the younger boy’s accusation.

Johnny snapped out of his reverie and said, “Oh there was a re-run of a drama my friends and I really enjoy watching on the TV and the guy had stuffed the girls face with ssam so I wanted to do that to you too. I thought you would look cute and I wasn’t wrong haha! You looked like a chipmunk. Super cute.”

Ten stopped in his tracks and Johnny continued walking, still clearly oblivious as to how casually he threw out statements that made people feel..not okay, until Ten caught up to him, shaking his head in disapproval.  
  
“You know you compliment people too easily. It’s not a very nice habit.” Ten said dryly. But his red face betrayed how the Johnny had flustered him. Nothing usually flustered him, in fact, he prided himself on being the one usually flustering people and it annoyed him to some degree that the taller boy kept making him blush so easily, without even trying to consciously do anything of the sort.  
  
“Why is complimenting people a bad thing? I think if people complimented each other more frequently, the world would be a better place!” Johnny said enthusiastically.  
  
“It makes people flustered you know. Like they don’t understand how to deal with it when compliments are suddenly thrown their way.” Ten is nothing if not honest and Johnny’s eyes widen at the sharp tone of the comment before his face splits into a lazy smile.  
  
“So, I flustered you?”  
  
“No!”  
  
“Oh I think I did!”  
  
“No. You did not. I was just...caught off guard but I can compliment people just as easily as you can!” Ten grit out not realising he was basically saying the exact opposite of his earlier statement.  
  
“Go on then, compliment someone!”  
  
“What, now??”  
  
“Yeah!” Johnny crossed his arms over his chest and used his height to loom over Ten, challenging him.  
  
Ten’s felt his face heat up and never one to back down from a challenge, he turned around to look for an easy target to walk up to and compliment. He knew no Korean except ‘hi’, ‘bye’, ‘where is the toilet’ and a few other basic phrases he had looked up so he wouldn’t die if he were left alone or in case of an emergency. He decided he would stick to English and looked around, but found no one to approach, everyone being too engrossed in their own activities. Johnny made him more irritable because he could see the other boy tapping his foot and whistling lightly in his periphery, mocking him. Eventually he found a girl who looked like she was on her way home from the store and Ten squared his shoulders and walked up to her confidently in all his 5ft glory.  
  
“Hello”  
  
“Uh..he-hello?” The girl stopped abruptly, pulling out her earbuds, heavily accented English falling hesitantly from her lips.  
  
“Hello I just wanted to say you have nice eyes and that you’re very pretty. Have a nice day!” Ten spoke slowly, smiled after he complimented her and turned around immediately before the embarrassment creeping up to his neck would become noticeable.  
  
The girl stood shocked before smiling brightly and yelling out a loud _‘Thank you!!’_ and waving at him, continuing on her way, face blushing and steps light and skipping.  
  
Ten stomped back to Johnny and before his confidence could run out he blurted, slightly aggressive “You too Seo Johnny, you look really nice and your face is handsome. Your smile makes me want to smile.”  
  
Johnny’s looked down at Ten, whose eyes were blazing, cheeks red from embarrassment and petty anger. He smacked his hands to his face, let out a small groan, felt himself flush and said grudgingly,”Okay fine, you got me. Tit for tat. Good god…”  
  
Ten smirked and said haughtily, ”So there,” before walking off leaving a very flustered Johnny behind him. He walked a few metres away before turning back and walking back towards Johnny who hadn’t moved from his face-palm position and poked him in the arm  
  
“I don’t actually know where to go Mr. Tour Guide Almighty.” He said sheepishly, his chance for a cool exit lost.  
  
Johnny peeked at him through his hands, cheeks still dusted a faint pink and said softly, “Right..okay..okay. Let’s go”  
  
He dropped his hands and wound an arm around Ten’s shoulders and both of them continued walking like that for a bit before Ten elbowed him and ran off laughing hysterically, prompting the taller boy to chase him across the length of the river. By the end of the day, Johnny felt warmer than ever, and his grin didn’t drop at all even when they had to end the day by him dropping Ten off at his hotel because he knew they were going to meet the next day. And more importantly, Ten was going to meet his friends.

~~

At the hotel, Johnny dropped Ten off at the lobby, made sure the younger boy had all of his souvenir bags (he had bought a lot) and they went over their plan for the next day. Ten was going to be dropped off at the bus-stop near their neighborhood by his parents before they went to a meeting at 11 in the morning and they would basically go with the flow for the rest of the day. Johnny had exhausted all of his planning capabilities on the current day and Ten was okay with anything. Ten looked super tired because of all of the running around and after their discussion Johnny waved the smaller boy an enthusiastic goodbye and jogged to the bus-stop, excitement thrumming in his veins for the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dishonour on my house dishonour to my cow for the excessive kdrama-esque fluff in this chapter! I cringed so bad writing this but then again, it is a well known fact that Johnny Seo is a disgusting, diabetes inducing, romantic so..we good..sort of? Yay to Johnten fluff on the 10th chapter!! Btw this chapter has been split into 2??3?? parts just letting you all know! I haven't proof-read this so if you all find any errors with the tense and grammar please let me know because as usual, I wrote this at ass o' clock ; v ;  
> Thank you so much for the wonderful comments and kudos and everything! They really make my day and week and life honestly because I have no life lmao <3
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9.B

When Ten’s parents dropped him off, he wasted no time in barreling into Johnny for a hug. He figured that since they didn’t have a lot of time together, he might as well be extra affectionate whenever he got the chance. Johnny stumbled back with a little  _ ‘oof’  _ when he crashed into his arms, surprised at the aggressive hug he received from the smaller boy not even three seconds after he had left his parent’s car. They waved Ten’s parents goodbye and walked towards the general store that Ten kept reading about in Johnny’s letters. Ten was expecting a fancy and modern store, like the others he had seen around the city, but he was pleasantly surprised to see what looked like a family run establishment, with a wooden exterior and jars of mini cookies and cheap sweets out on display.   
  
“My friends will be here in a few minutes. Are you okay? Do you want to eat something?” Johnny asked Ten, ever the kind host.   
  
Ten would be lying if he said he was okay. He was going to meet Johnny’s first friends since he moved to Korea, people who helped him settle and get used to the country. Important people to Johnny and Ten felt like someone was wringing his stomach. But he shook his head with a weak smile hoping that Johnny saw what he wanted to see. Johnny smiled back at him before patting his shoulder encouragingly and saying, "Don’t worry they’re a bunch of dorks and they’re super nice. They’ll definitely like you and make friends with you.”    
  
Ten blinked in surprise at how Johnny seemed to have seen through his (admittedly weak) deception and before he could say thanks, Johnny was shouting out greetings to three kids coming up the sidewalk. Ten felt his shoulders tense because he was starting to overthink about how he knew next to no Korean and would seem like a burden to Johnny. But he forced himself to calm down the way he did before his gymnastics showcases and smiled when he saw how excited the taller boy looked. Johnny ran forwards to the kids who were stashing their bicycles away and dragged them to the shaded area by the shop’s entrance where Ten was standing, scuffing his sneaker against the ground. Johnny grinned widely at him and introduced his friends.   
  
“Ten, this is Jaehyun, Taeyong and Taeil! We go to the same school as you know and they’re my closest friends.” Johnny said pointing to each boy as he said their names.

“Hey everyone. I am Ten! I am Thai. I don’t know much Korean so Johnny will help me. Nice to meet you and let’s be friends!” Ten babbled out the little speech he had learned for the occasion.

He ducked his head because he was sure he had messed up and his speech had sounded garbled. His pronunciation had definitely been off. He was ready to hear the sounds of teasing laughter but looked up in surprise when he heard sounds of awe and clapping from the other boys. His eyes darted to Johnny who had his mouth open. The taller boy snapped it shut and gave him a huge smile and a thumbs up, turned to the others and said, “I had no idea he had planned to do that!" He looked back at Ten, "Dude you spoke really well!” The other boys also gave him thumbs up and big smiles and Ten felt all of the tension in his shoulders drop away realising they were being genuine. The three boys, Jaehyun, Taeyong and Taeil proceeded to introduce themselves in a mix of accented English and basic Korean and Ten somehow knew in that moment that they would all be great friends. Johnny ran off into the store to buy everyone some snacks and was paying when he noticed how Ten seemed at ease and was laughing at something Taeil was doing and he felt his chest fill up with something warm. 

~~

Ten found out quickly that Jaehyun was a shy guy who treated everything delicately but had his moments where he went  _ wild _ and surprised everyone. Taeyong was the responsible friend, who pushed up his spectacles or scratched his neck when he felt awkward. He was possibly shyer than Jaehyun but forced himself to overcome it so that he could take care of the others and clean up whatever messes the two other rowdy boys, namely Johnny and Taeil (and sometimes Jaehyun when he felt like it) had created. Taeil was the oldest one and all of them listened to him and spoke to him with respect. But not once did it feel stiff or awkward because Taeil himself was a laidback and fun person. Ten felt at ease with them very quickly and when he told Johnny about it as they were all walking to the park, Jaehyun and Taeyong walking behind the two of them and Taeil walking ahead with a bag of games, Johnny gave him a warm smile and went  _ ‘I told you so!’ _ __  
__  
The five boys reached the park just as the it had started getting busy, what with it being a holiday on a spring day and everyone and their moms deciding to visit the normally barely crowded place. Johnny ran off with Jaehyun searching for a place they could snag that had enough space for them to play and a tree or something to sit under close by. Ten, Taeil and Taeyong stood awkwardly by the entrance with the snacks, not knowing what to say to each other.    


“I-”   
  
“We should-”   
  
Taeil and Ten spoke that the same time and looked wide eyed at each other. Ten gestured for the older boy to speak first.   


Taeil smiled at him and said, “We should try to play ten questions! Get it? Like twenty questions but ten..because..you’re Ten! That way we can find things we have in common!”    
  
The older boy used some English and gestured wildly and Ten understood what he was trying to say and burst out laughing at his horrible attempt at word play and the attempt at breaking the ice. He agreed enthusiastically and the two of them started firing away questions at each other. Eventually Taeyong who had been standing a bit ways away joined in and the three of them found out they had little in common. But somehow that didn’t stop them from having an amazing time telling each other stories about themselves and (much to Ten’s relief) despite being so different, not once did the conversation feel awkward. Taeyong was shocked at Ten’s love for all things spicy and Ten was appalled at Taeyong's apparent complete lack of a spice tolerance. Taeil recalled and narrated a story about how once, on a dare, Taeyong had been made to eat a supersized bowl of ‘ _ Regular spicy...not even like, super spicy..really they were like one level above baby food probably!’  _ chicken noodles on a summer day and had to take two days off of school to recover from the stomach upset he had gotten. They had all bought him ice cream and juices to help him after the dare and Taeil said he had never seen Taeyong look as pitiful as he had during the last few bites of the noodles with tears falling down his red face. Taeyong, in retaliation told Ten about how Taeil had joined a martial arts class when he had been in 6th grade and on his second day of the class had slipped and somehow landed right into the punching bag which had been roundhouse kicked. Taeyong said there had been a red burn mark that made him look like he was blushing on Taeil’s face for a week and he had gotten teased by the other 6th graders mercilessly. The older boy had never gone back to the class. Taeil had absentmindedly rubbed his hand along his cheek and said, “I decided that week itself that I would never blush for the rest of my life, you know!” Taeyong had nodded and said that the older boy had gotten weirdly shameless and strict at the same time and hadn’t blushed since 6th grade. Ten had marvelled at the two boys’ attitudes and laughed as they pulled faces and bickered. The Thai boy told them about his sister’s pranks and the way his mom made them copy advertisements and they would show it to their family during holiday gatherings. He acted out a few advertisements and the two Korean boys had fallen to the ground because of how hard they had laughed, even though they hadn’t understood one word of what Ten had been saying while he was acting.   
  
Johnny and Jaehyun came jogging back, out of breath just as Ten finished his second advert with a stupid cheesy pose. The two boys looked at the scene in front of them, Taeyong and Taeil lying in a heap on the grass and Ten making a ridiculous looking pose and had smiled widely and hollered at them to get up and run to the place they had gotten before someone else took it away. Johnny looked at Ten who was running beside Taeyong, all breathless barks of laughter and wide smile adorning his face as Taeyong told him something amusing and he felt a burst of happiness. Ten really was getting along with his friends. 

Jaehyun and Taeil reached the little patch of the park they had laid their claim on, near the back wall of the place and laid down the plastic bags full of toys and games and snacks on the grass. Jaehyun stood up with both hands on his hip and Taeyong giggled at him before going up to ruffle his hair. The younger boy caught his hand and pushed it down, discreetly (not really) intertwining their fingers together. Both boys blushed and the others shared unimpressed looks with Johnny and Taeil making gaggy kissy sounds at them. Jaehyun launched himself at Taeil who was the closest target and started tickling him while Taeyong pulled out a few games from a bag, smiling fondly at the two boys. 

Ten looked at Johnny and whispered, “So they’re officially together?”  
  
“Looks like it! My two cute friends being cute together aw! Finally stopped dancing around each other! The widdle _cutie patooties_!” Johnny stage whispered to Ten who smiled happily at the taller boy. “I’m just _so_ happy they got together you know! Taeyong was litera- _OOF_!”   
  
Out of nowhere Johnny got tackled to the ground and Ten let out a shriek and noticed it was Taeyong sitting on Johnny’s back. The smaller boy was pinching Johnny’s sides with a vicious smile as the taller boy flailed beneath him. Ten decided then and there that Lee Taeyong was someone to mess with. Jaehyun and Taeil walked up to them with grass stains on their shirts and pants and leaves in their hair. They joined Ten in watching Johnny getting tortured by Taeyong and Jaehyun looked proudly as Johnny started pleading with Taeyong for mercy. Taeil just looked mildly horrified.  
  
“Three weeks of you not cracking horrible puns and also buying Jaehyun and I snacks and no teasing. Then I’ll get off of you noodle boy.” Taeyong said, glasses askew, after ten minutes of endless pinching and poking, a smug smile on his face.  
  
“Oh my GOD fine just get _off Lee Taeyong!!_ I can’t BREATHE!” Johnny yelled at the smaller boy sitting in the middle of his back.  
  
Taeyong got up, dusted his knees, straightened his glasses and bounced up to Jaehyun who continued gaping at him in awe. Johnny got up, mouth contorted in a pout and groaned as he straightened up. He walked over to Ten, limping exaggeratedly and said, “Well Ten, these are my demon friends, don’t be fooled by any of their nice faces. They’re all evil!”  
  
Ten looked at Johnny and looked at Taeil, Jaehyun and Taeyong, then back at Johnny before his face split into a huge smile and he said, “I _love_ them!”  
  
The other boys all glared at each other but when Taeil failed to keep his composure and burst out laughing, everyone else started laughing along with him.   
  
The five of them proceeded to play with some traditional Korean games that Taeil and Taeyong had brought over from their houses. Ten was surprisingly good at a few of them and Jaehyun was good at almost none. Taeyong and Taeil would pat the younger boy’s back when he failed to be good at a game and Johnny just yelled encouragements at Ten, amazed by his ability. By the time lunchtime rolled around, the boys were exhausted and were lying in a heap on the grass, spring wind cooling their overheated faces. Ten sighed at the mild smell of cherry blossoms and he turned his head to see Johnny smiling with his eyes closed, also enjoying the calm moment. Suddenly, Jaehyun got up (from where he had placed his head on Taeyong’s thighs) and exclaimed loudly that he was extremely hungry and that if nothing went into his stomach in the next twenty minutes he would die. Taeil lazily patted Jaehyun’s head as he got up and stretched and Taeyong proceeded to whisper what looked like calming words to Jaehyun. Ten stretched out on the grass and got up in one fluid motion and hauled Johnny to his feet. The four Korean boys discussed where they could go for lunch and asked Ten for a few opinions before deciding on a small and newly opened cafe nearby.  
  
~~

The cafe they went to was quaint and had quite a few customers already seated at the tables. The place was cozy and had a lot of daylight filtering in through the windows. The boys chose a place and were given a menu. They all started choosing what they wanted and the civil discussion somehow dissolved into Jaehyun and Johnny fighting over their choices because the five of them didn’t have enough money to order everything they wanted. Ten and Taeyong got dragged into the argument that kept getting louder until Taeil slammed his hands on the table, making everyone go quiet. He called out the order to the lady at the restaurant and glared at them all, daring them to make a sound.   
  
“Taeil-hyung got mad.” Jaehyun said quietly to no one.   
  
Johnny and Taeyong nodded and apologised to Taeil who smiled slowly at them and said, “Guys we can’t behave like this at a cafe this small. Everyone had started looking at our ta-” Taeil had started turning his head around to emphasise how the other customers had actually started staring at their loud table when he stopped abruptly as his eyes landed on a table near the window to their far right. The older boy suddenly jumped to his feet with a loud gasp and ran off to the other table, leaving Johnny and the others confused at his abrupt departure.    
  
A minute later, Taeil came back to their table, dragging behind him a smaller, pixie-like boy who seemed very uncomfortable about the whole thing.   
  
“Everyone! This is Sicheng. He goes to my after school tech classes but he’s Jaehyun’s age. He’s sort of a boy genius so we all call him WinWin. He outdoes everyone in class! Even me!! He’s a Chinese exchange student and he’s here for a year! He’s here with a few friends from his school and I just noticed him because he’s my favorite!” Taeil gushed in one breath.   
  
Sicheng- or WinWin stood there, scratching his neck uncomfortably, an embarrassed blush rising up his neck at Taeil’s compliments. He pulled his hand out of Taeil’s grip when he realises that they were still holding hands and waved shyly at the boys sitting around the table, all of whom were gaping in confusion.    
  
“Hello everyone, I’m WinWin. Taeil-hyung and I are...friends. He helps me out a lot in class which is why I do so well. Nice to meet you!” The Chinese boy said shyly and Taeil beamed at him.    
  
Johnny, Ten and Jaehyun enthusiastically introduced themselves (Ten trying his best with whatever little Korean he knew) and to everyone’s surprise, Taeyong also joined in and introduced himself with almost as much enthusiasm as the others, if not more. The Chinese boy seemed to have won the usually shy class president over with how cute he was. 

They all spoke for a while, Taeil grabbing a chair for WinWin and placing it so that the awkward boy was sat between himself and Taeyong. The two boys kept showering WinWin with praises and Jaehyun tried to join in as well, but just seemed to get sulkier as time passed and Taeyong didn’t pay him much attention. Johnny and Ten looked between the three of them and giggled to themselves, enjoying the love triangle-esque situation in front of them. Ten spoke to WinWin about Korea and how he found it, how it was studying in the country and Johnny gave him some tips about living as a foreigner. Eventually Jaehyun warmed up to WinWin too, when he found out they were the same age, but his hand always stayed possessively on Taeyong’s shoulder. Both WinWin and Jaehyun threw friendly insults at each other and Taeyong and Taeil beamed with pride at the two of them.    
  
Eventually WinWin had to leave when someone from his group came to collect him. He bid everyone a goodbye and shot them all a small smile. He tried very hard to smile at Taeil but it looked more like a barely concealed grimace. The older boy just smiled widely at him and waved him goodbye with twice the enthusiasm of their entire group combined. Johnny made a mental note to talk to Taeil about the exchange student, his mind flitting back to when the older boy had told him he had someone he liked. Taeil turned around after WinWin disappeared around the corner of the cafe and smiled widely at his friends.   
  
“So...what do you think! Isn’t he just adorable?” Taeil asked them, his voice gooey.   
  
“Dude he hates you.” Johnny said flatly, taking a sip of his water.   
  
Taeil laughed airily at that and said confidently, “Oh no he doesn’t trust me. He’s just super shy and cute about skinship and all that!”   
  
“He is adorable.” Taeyong breathed, cheeks pink.   
  
Jaehyun squawked at that and got up abruptly and said, “I think our order is ready I’m just gonna go get them!”   
  
Taeyong looked at his boyfriend’s back as the walked to the counter and got up to go follow him. Johnny and Ten shot each other a look and rolled their eyes when a few minutes later, Jaehyun and Taeyong came back practically glued to each other’s sides, balancing trays filled with food and drinks. They both sat down and distributed the plates and drinks. Everyone gasped at the pretty way that the cafe had served the food and wasted no time in getting in on their plates. Appreciation shot to the back of their minds because of their hunger. But before Jaehyun could start eating, Taeyong suddenly gave him a peck on the cheek and went back to cutting into his grilled chicken, acting like nothing happened. Jaehyun flushed a deep red and shoved Taeyong’s shoulder with a whiny ‘ _ hyuu-ung!’ _ . Taeyong smiled down at his plate and gently shoved back. Taeil and Johnny made gagging noises at the two of them and Ten laughed and joined in on the teasing as well. While they were eating, Ten took a few pictures of the food and of his new friends, not wanting to forget the memory of having had such a great time. Johnny offered the younger boy his drink and Ten gave him a bit of his lasagne and the two of them smiled appreciatively at each other. 

Which was when Taeil, Jaehyun and Taeyong made gagging noises at them both. Ten had a forkful of lasagne held to Johnny’s mouth and the two of them flushed pink at the teasing. The Thai boy accidentally shoved the fork with too much force into Johnny’s mouth, causing the older boy to choke. Ten jumped out of his seat to thump his back. Once Johnny had stopped choking, Ten sat back down and the older boy looked at him, his eyes watering and a stricken look on his face which caused Ten to start giggling helplessly.   
  
“Dude I could’ve died! And you’re laughing? You almost killed me!” Johnny said, voice hoarse from his struggle.   


Ten giggled and said breathlessly, “True, I almost killed you but in the end, I saved you didn’t I? Don’t worry Johnny, I’ll always save you, if I get you into trouble!” Ten’s giggles turned into barks of laughter that caused his body to rock back and forth and Johnny smiled at the younger boy.   
  
After they were all done eating and paying, they went to their school’s basketball court which was a short walk away from the cafe. Ten and Taeyong had talked about food and other stuff the whole way there and Taeil, Johnny and Jaehyun had carried the bags and led the way. The three boys reached the gates first and told the bored security guard that they wanted to use the court for a few hours. They showed him their school ID’s and the guard let them in, not looking up from the car magazine he was reading. Ten went up behind Johnny and pulled at his shirt.   
  
“Johnny, won’t you guys get in trouble? I mean...this is school property and it’s a Sunday..” Ten trailed off, unsure about the whole thing.   
  
Johnny laughed and said, “Don’t worry, this is a small town and that guard is one of our classmate’s older brother. He knows we won’t do anything illegal and even if we do get caught, the worst the school can do is give us a warning or detention because Jaehyun and I are the star players on the team and Taeil and Taeyong are like...ideal students. Don’t you worry your lovely head!”   
  
Ten gaped at Johnny, who hadn’t realised or didn’t care about what he had said and had turned back to remove some stuff out of their bags.    
  
“Lovely…” Ten whispered.   
  
“Hmm?” Johnny turned around, big smile on his face, clutching a basketball, some cones and a notepad (to keep score perhaps? Ten pondered) in his arms.   
  
“Oh..nothing,” Ten shook his head and smiled up at Johnny with a challenging glint to his eyes. “The star players on the team you say...Is that right Jaehyun?” He shouted to the other boy who was walking up to the two of them with Taeil in tow.   
  
“You know it Thai boy! Are you ready to be destroyed?”   
  
“You’re the one who’s going to be turned to dust!” Ten declared haughtily.   
  
Taeil laughed and the four boys divided themselves up into teams, ‘The Js’ versus ‘The Ts’.  Taeyong walked to the centre and launched the ball up and signalled the start of the match. The next two hours were spent on the court playing a not very ethical match with Ten grabbing Jaehyun by the waist and Johnny butting Taeil with his hips to keep the ball on him. Taeil switched out with Taeyong after an hour of play and collapsed on the bleachers. Taeyong joining the match led to even more chaos as Taeyong’s competitive streak pushed Ten and him to get the lead against Jaehyun and Johnny. Lots of tickling, nudging, shoving, name calling and childish tricks were involved and no one remembered to keep score, focusing instead on just enjoying the game. The match ended with all five boys lying exhausted on the court, water bottles thrown around them and their shirts soaked completely with sweat. They were all giggling tiredly on the courts, trying to cool down after the intense game. Jaehyun and Ten had gotten a couple of scrapes on their knees and the others some bruises on their arms and legs from when their match got a bit too aggressive, but no one complained because their bodies were thrumming with the joy of having played a fun game. The sun was going down and Johnny pushed himself up and told the others that they all needed to get home. Everyone else groaned and Johnny hated to be that person but he nagged at them until they got all got up and packed away the ball and picked up the trash they had thrown on the courts.  
  
~~  
  
The five boys started trudging back to their houses, legs heavy and their bodies exhausted but satisfied with the way the entire day had turned out. Taeyong was leaning heavily on Jaehyun’s side and Taeil was hanging off of Taeyong. The three of them made an extremely funny picture and Ten let out a little giggle when he saw them. Johnny made a questioning sound and looked at the boy walking beside him with an eyebrow raised.   
  
“They look like limp noodles,” He giggled softly, “the way they’re slumping on each other!”   
  
“Hey now..if anyone’s the noodle, its me!” Johnny huffed at him, a smile in his eyes.   
  
“Yeah yeah we know, you’re the spiciest noodle in town!”    
  
Johnny stopped in his tracks, “S..spicy?!” he sputtered.   
  
“I mean Taeil said it when we were playing and you gave him a big thumbs up so now..that’s what you are. A spicy noodle!” Ten said with a huge grin.   
  
Johnny shook his head and marched ahead of the shorter boy mumbling incoherently, clearly embarrassed. Ten ran up beside him, his steps lighter and expression teasing as they walked in companionable silence. After fifteen minutes of groaning about how tired they were and dragging each other closer to their homes, the boys finally reached the general store. Taeyong bought them all cheap candies and smiled at Ten as he handed him his sweet.   
  
Johnny bent down as Taeyong had turned around to give the others their’s and whispered, “Taeyong really liked you..he’s always such a shy boy, his only way of showing he liked someone, like, properly is to buy them something to eat. He doesn’t do this very often..”    
  
Ten smiled at Johnny and when Taeyong turned around, he popped one of the sweets into his mouth and made obvious appreciative noises so that the other boy would understand how much Ten had liked his little gesture of friendship.   
  
“Well, this is where we must part for the day!” Taeil said dramatically and Johnny and Taeyong rolled their eyes at him. Ten giggled at his theatricality, hands coming up to cover his mouth.   
  
“Ten you leave tomorrow night right?” Jaehyun questioned softly, making everyone turn to the boy in question.   
  
Ten stopped giggling immediately and quickly looked down at his feet. “Yeah..my flight is at 10pm but I leave the hotel at 7pm to reach the airport on time..” He trailed off sadly.   
  
Johnny put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, seeing how the other boy’s mood had dropped.   
  
“Don’t worry though Ten we’ll all come see you off before you go! School will be done by then so it won’t be any problem since none of us have clubs tomorrow either!” Jaehyun chirped happily when he realised he’d made Ten upset.   
  
“Yeah! You’re one of us now so we gotta see you off! And it’s not like it’s going to be a one off thing right? I mean, since your parents are expanding their business here you might come back! Some time soon too!” Taeyong added enthusiastically.   
  
“We got you dude! Plus you’re staying over at Johnny’s tonight and you’ll be here until like..6pm right? We could definitely meet up and hang out tomorrow too.” Taeil said nodding a little.   
  
Johnny looked at him and gave him a blinding smile and thumbs up, patting his shoulder softly.   
  
Ten felt a surge of gratitude and warmth for the friends he’d made and for Johnny. He knew it had been tough for the other boys to get used to him and to communicate with him thanks to the language barrier but he felt so grateful that they tried so hard and accepted him and really made him feel welcome. The Thai boy didn’t have a lot of friends back home. He was popular and well liked in school and was never alone, but because of his classes and busy schedule, he never got to make a proper bond with any of the kids he’d known since he was younger. But these people, he thought, made him feel more comfortable and not alone in a day than any of his other friends ever had. He curled his hands into fists because he realised he was about three minutes away from crying.   
  
“Thank you all so much. I had so much fun with you today. I hope I wasn’t too incon-inconvenient,” Ten struggled with the bigger words and fought back the lump in his throat, “I am so happy we are friends now. I really had a lot of fun with you Jaehyun, Taeil and Taeyong! Please come see me before I go tomorrow!” Ten choked out, tears threatening to spill.   
  
Everyone cooed at him and Taeil seemed to have tears in his eyes when they all engulfed him in a big hug and promised to meet up the next day at the general store again. Johnny doesn’t let go of Ten’s shoulder even after the others broke the group hug, keeping him pressed in a side hug as the others gather up their bicycles and wave goodbye as they pedal home. The sun had set by the time that they had reached the store and now it was getting darker and the street lights were slowly flickering to life.  
  
Johnny watched his friends disappear, turned to Ten and said, “Okay let’s-” He stopped midway noticing the other boy trying to discreetly wipe away his tears. Johnny reached out a hand and wiped them away gently and Ten jumped, startled at the sudden contact. He looked at Johnny with wide eyes, hands stuck midway to his face and the taller boy smiled at him.   
  
“Don’t cry Ten. Like Taeyong said, it’s not going to be the last time and we’re going to hang out tomorrow too! My mom always says that it’s better to say goodbyes happily so that your last - well in this case it isn’t last- memories of the other person or people is a good one!”   
  
Ten frowned a little, screwing up his face to stop himself from crying and nodded silently, a few tears still falling down his face without his permission. Johnny huffed out a laugh and wiped away the tears again and said, “Come on Ten let’s go. My mom’s made that amazing pasta I wrote to you about and I’m sure you’re starving by now.” He grinned and grabbed the Thai boy’s hand and started marching towards his house.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed that little cameo from the prince of China (1/5)!! And the absurd amounts of fluff!!! I'm still gagging at how insanely cute all of this is!! Actual note, I had forgotten to mention somewhere in the earlier chapters that Taeyong has prescription glasses, but it's fixed now LOL. Whoops (cue exit of the trash author).
> 
> Thank you all of you, for writing such nice comments and giving kudos!!! I truly appreciate it and it makes my day! I love you all <3 Thank you!!!!!
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9.C

The lights in Johnny’s house were already on by the time the two boys reached the front door. The taller boy shot him a grin and turned to ring the doorbell, finally letting go of his hand. Ten gulped nervously and shrugged shoulders to adjust his overnight bag when Johnny turned around. It was the first time he was going to stay at the Seo’s house and he wanted to make a good impression. He knew they were all lovely people, but that thought alone did not do much to dispel the lump of nervousness sitting in his stomach. Ten hated feeling nervous so he straightened his shoulders and pulled out a smile, just as the door opened to reveal Johnny’s mother wearing a yellow apron and sporting a fond grin on her face. She gestured them inside, ruffling Johnny’s hair as he walked ahead, causing the taller boy to whine in annoyance. She patted Ten’s head too, making him feel calmer instantly. Ten liked being babied and pet and comforted and Johnny’s mom being so easily affectionate put his mind at ease. He quietly marveled at how both the Seos he had met somehow had the power to make him stop feeling scared or nervous instantly. He followed Johnny to the shoe rack and she leaned against the doorway as the boys toed of their shoes.  
  
“How was your day you two? You seem to have had a fun time..” She trailed off, eyeing their scuffed knees and grass stained shirts.  
  
“We had a great time mom! Taeyong and the guys loved Ten and Ten had a great time with them too!” he turned to look at Ten, “Didn’t you?”  
  
Ten stood up straight and nodded enthusiastically, “Oh yes! They were all such great guys and we went to the park and played some traditional games like..uh.. _j-jagi-chegi_ ?” Ten struggled with the pronunciation of the game’s name and looked at Johnny for correction.  
  
“Jegichagi! Go on!” The taller boy encouraged him.  
  
“Right, jegichagi and then we went to a cafe and we ha-” Ten started rambling with wide, excited eyes.  
  
“Okay whoa wait,” Johnny’s mom cut Ten off with a smile and said, “How about I finish cooking tonight’s meal and you boys go clean up a bit and you tell us how your day was in detail over dinner? Johnny, dad should be home soon and I’m sure he’ll want to hear about it as well.”  
  
She turned to Johnny who nodded an affirmative and then she looked at Ten who did the same.  
  
“Okay then, off you go. Johnny I’m sure you know where your room is. Clean up, show Ten around and I’ll mostly be done by then. I’ll call you both down!” She said while walking back into the kitchen. When she opened the door, the smell of something extremely delicious wafted into the hallway and Ten’s stomach growled in hunger. He smiled sheepishly at Johnny who looked at him with wide eyes. He laughed and ruffled Ten’s hair and led him into the house.  
  
Johnny’s house wasn’t as big as Ten’s back in Thailand but it was cozy and homely. The living room had a T.V kept on a shelf, filled with knick-knacks and memorabilia. A few awards were kept around the shelves and when he enquired, Johnny told him some were won by his dad at his office, others by his mom at hers and some were Johnny’s from basketball. Ten had inspected the Johnny ones with wide eyes and complimented and congratulated Johnny who stood next to him growing more and more embarrassed by the second. The walls were painted a soft yellow or white and the curtains were thick and cream coloured with green swirls on it. The sofa had a handmade quilt thrown across it and the coffee table had newspapers strewn across it and magazines kept under. The walls near the staircase had pictures of Johnny as a small baby, pictures of people who seemed like his grandparents and a big family picture which looked like it was taken in a park. They climbed up the stairs, with Johnny enthusiastically telling stories about each picture on the wall and Ten listened and giggled and laughed at them. The house seemed warm and welcoming and the Thai boy immediately realised why Johnny was the way he was. He wasn’t extremely rich, like a lot of the people he knew back in Thailand, but he had been raised in a loving home with loving parents. Ten’s family had taught him to appreciate good people and each member of the Seo family whom he had met so far, were excellent people. Johnny showed him around the house, pointing to his parent’s room, showing him the loo and how to work the nozzles and switches in the bathroom, showing the cozy looking study in which sat a fat, old computer with papers lying in stacks around it and a big window with thick white curtains right beside the main desk. It overlooked the garden and Ten imagined the study must seem like something out of a European movie in the day. Shelves filled with books lined the wall opposite the main desk and Ten asked if Johnny had read any. The taller boy informed him that he had read quite a few but not all of them. Some were apparently ‘too grownup’ for him according to his parents. As the two boys made their way to Johnny’s room, Ten felt an unknown feeling crawling into his heart. It felt like nervousness but it didn’t feel suffocating, the way it did most times. It was anticipation but in the same way he thought someone might feel right before jumping off a dive board. Johnny’s door had a handmade door tag on it saying ‘John’s Room’. Ten exclaimed at the Homestuck reference and laughed at Johnny who screeched about how it had been a phase. But when asked why he didn’t just get rid of the thing, Johnny said that the tag glowed in the dark and it was cool. Ten laughed at how innocent Johnny’s explanation was as the taller boy opened the door.  
  
“This is my room.” He gestured around as he walked in. “You can put your bag anywhere!” Johnny sat on his bed with a huff.  
  
Ten walked in, clutching the straps of his overnight bag. He looked around the room with wide eyes, taking in the posters of American bands and singers, basketball players, comics covering every part of the wall. A small board with pictures of his family, his friends from America and Jaehyun, Taeyong and Taeil were stuck to it. The room was painted a pastel blue in contrast with the warm colour scheme of the rest of the house. The bed was pushed to the side and had a window near the headboard with dark purple curtains. The whole room was spacious but had a chair piled high with clothes, a big desk with books sitting in stacks, a school bag and training kit kept by the side and basketball shoes, books and some exercise equipment thrown around the place making it seem like it was all organised chaos. A tiny flowering plant and an aerosol spray by the window stood valiantly against the obvious boyishness of the place.  
  
“You can sit down and look around you know, I’m sure you’re exhausted. We can wash up in a bit.” Johnny said startling Ten who had been looking around Johnny’s room in silence, trying to take in as much information as he could.  
  
Ten carefully placed his bag by Johnny’s school bag and sat awkwardly on the empty swivel desk chair after pushing the clothes chair to the side so that he could see the taller boy who had fallen back on his bed, lying with his legs hanging off the side.  
  
“Hey Johnny..” Ten spoke up hesitantly.  
  
“Hmm?” Johnny slowly shifted onto his elbows, looking at Ten.  
  
“You’re such an emo.” Ten giggled.  
  
“Ugh oh my god! Fine. Yes I am.” He admitted, shifting his fringe out of his face. “Have you even _heard_ the new Greenday album? I lost my mind it’s so good. I have a copy on my desk somewhere. You can put it in and we can listen to it!”  
  
Ten laughed at the older boy and got up to look at the albums lined on the shelf above the desk. He thumbed through them and noted that he had listened to a lot of them as well. He started wondering if he was a hidden emo himself but stopped when he found Greenday’s lastest album. He was about to take it when something caught his eye. He turned to Johnny slowly and the taller boy raised his eyebrow at him.  
  
“Johnny what’s… _Soft Music for Soft Times, a mixtape by JS_ ?”  
  
Johnny’s eyes widened comically as he shot off the bed, ready to grab the CD case out of Ten’s hand. Ten laughed and easily moved out of his way, thanking every higher power out there for making him flexible and giving him good reflexes. Johnny turned to him with a pathetic look in his eyes.  
  
“That...that wasn’t supposed to be there please give it back.”  
  
“Oho..no no Johnny boy, we are going to listen to this. And not Greenday.” Ten sing-songed waving the CD case around.  
  
“Ten!! Please..oh god this is so embarrassing.” Johnny whined, putting his face in his hands as Ten located the tiny stereo and put the CD on, obviously turning the volume dial up.  
  
A soft piano started playing before a woman’s voice started crooning along to the music. Ten sat down cross legged on the floor and started listening to the song. Halfway through it, Ten smiled at Johnny and the taller boy, who had been leaning back on the desk, approached him quietly and sat on the floor next to him.  
  
As the song ended, piano notes fading out, Johnny said, “I swear I’m cool. But sometimes I just feel like listening to some piano and soft vocals about romance and stuff you know.”  
  
Ten smiled and placed his hand comfortingly on Johnny’s thigh, “That was a lovely song. You have good taste. To be honest, I don’t think it’s embarrassing to like this sort of music either. I listen to Jazz and the top hits of the month and the recommendations you send me. It’s all cool!” He smiled at the pouting boy sitting beside him and patted him. “Let’s listen to this CD. I like it, we’ll listen to Greenday after!”  
  
Johnny smiled softly and the two boys stayed on the floor, listening to the soft songs that the older boy had selected and put on the disc. At the end of the disc, the two boys went to wash their faces and hands and feet. Johnny heard his dad come in and dragged Ten down the stairs to greet him. Johnny’s dad was talking to Mrs. Seo and in Ten’s humble opinion he was HUGE. He was extremely tall and he gave off this aura of...largeness. He smiled warmly at Ten as he introduced himself. He shook the Thai boy’s hand and patted his shoulder and ruffled Johnny’s hair, which made the taller boy whine. Ten giggled at this pattern that the family seemed to have and felt a surge of warmth at how comfortable he felt with all of them. Even Johnny’s dad who he had been a bit scared to meet. Mrs. Seo told them that dinner would be ready in another half hour or so and Johnny’s dad followed her into the kitchen. Johnny gestured that they could go up. They went back to Johnny’s room and Johnny offered Ten some chips he had stored away in his room, which the Thai boy ate with gratitude and they listened to the Greenday album. Johnny headbanged his way through it and Ten kept exclaiming about how amazing the music was and how the lyrics were so relatable. The two boys jumped around the room to the music before collapsing on the bed in a heap of giggles as the last song faded out.  
  
“That. Album. Was. AMAZING!” Ten yelled at the ceiling.  
  
“I _know_ right?? It’s so good! The guitar riffs?? MAGIC!” Johnny said, shouting at the ceiling as well.  
  
The two boys turned to each other and giggled happily, their chests heaving from the jumping and intense headbanging they’d done while listening to the songs.  A few minutes later, Johnny’s mom called for them both and the two boys rushed down the stairs remembering immediately how hungry they both were. Johnny’s mother walked out of the kitchen holding a huge bowl of...something that smelled heavenly and asked Johnny to set up the table as she kept it in the middle. Once everyone was settled and the plates and bowls and other stuff had been kept on the table, Johnny’s parents walked in and out of the kitchen bringing endless plates filled with different kinds of food. Ten recognised _jjampong, sookju namul, jjiggae_ , egg rolls and of course the bowl of kimchi out of what seemed like the hundreds of dishes that the Seo’s had kept on the table _._ Ten regarded all of them with huge round eyes. He turned to Johnny’s mom and thanked her for taking the effort to cook so many things and she waved her hands as if to say, it’s no big deal. Johnny and his dad had been looking at the whole table in glee, their spoons and chopsticks at the ready to dig into the delicious food. Once Johnny’s mom sat down with  huff, they all said thank you for the food (which Ten also tried saying, with encouragement from Johnny) and they all started eating.

After an hour of eating in complete silence because that’s what the food deserved, except for regular noises of appreciation from Ten and laughter from Johnny and his family at his reactions, everyone started slowing down. Ten put down his chopsticks and spoon and started rubbing his stomach to help settle the food that he had practically inhaled when Johnny’s mom turned to him and said, “So Ten, tell me again about your day today! What kind of crazy stuff did my son and his friends get up to? What crazy stuff did they make you do while you were all out and about?”  
  
Johnny whined in annoyance at his mom’s tone, asking her why she said it that way when his dad reached over and ruffled his hair, making Ten giggle and the taller boy whine even louder. Ten recounted the whole day to Johnny’s mom, explaining everything they all did in detail and described the food and snacks they ate with small interjections and encouragements from Johnny.  
  
He told Johnny’s parents about how nice and wonderful all of Johnny’s friends were and how kind they had been to him. How they had tried their best to include him despite the language barriers. He told them about the games they played and how he enjoyed the Korean games that had been brought and he told them about the cafe and their delicious lunch. He ran upstairs to fetch his digital camera and showed them the pictures he had taken. He also told them about their basketball match and heaped compliments on Johnny’s skills at the game until the taller boy’s ears turned red from embarrassment and he whacked Ten’s shoulder to get him to stop. Ten laughed and Johnny’s parents listened to him speak with their son and about his day out with shining eyes.

~~

After dinner and cleaning up the dining table and dishes - _‘It’s only fair we do the dishes and clean everything up after mom cooked us that feast right?’-_ Johnny’s dad had said, arms piled with plates, the two boys went back up to Johnny’s room to wind up for the day. Ten sat down on the chair in Johnny’s room, having brushed his teeth and changed into his baby blue jammies. He looked up at the ceiling and now that it was much darker, with just the desk lamp and bedside table lamp on, he noticed that Johnny had put up glow-in the dark stickers on the ceiling. Ten heard the bathroom door opening and he felt a sudden twist in his gut. It was the same weird feeling he’d had before meeting Johnny’s friends which he now labelled as nervousness. He rubbed at his tummy, confused as to why he would feel _nervous_ now. At the end of the day. Johnny walked in just as Ten was shaking his head, trying to clear it and shut the door behind him, blocking out the light in the hallway and making the room darker. He laughed at Ten shaking his head and towelled his hair dry. He shivered slightly at the cool air of the room hitting his calves, exposed by the shorts he wore to bed and the damp bits of his t-shirt where the water from his hair had dripped.  
  
“What are you doing?” He asked curiously.  
  
Ten shot out of the chair, his heart suddenly beating twice it’s regular speed. “Nothing! Just...uh..some water got into my ear..yeah. I was trying to shake it out.”  
  
“Oh yeah I hate it when that happens.” Johnny said as he plopped down on his bed, towel placed on his head. “Mom told me to tell you that we both need to put something on the cuts and stuff we got today. I have some medicine and creams so let’s put those on and go to sleep. I’m pooped!”  
  
Ten nodded and rolled the chair near Johnny’s bed. Ten rolled up his pajama pant leg and his sleeves to reveal the cuts and scrapes he had gotten in the day. The taller boy rummaged in his bedside table and triumphantly pulled out some medicinal creams and a pack of bandaids and a bunch of other medical stuff. Ten’s eyes widened at that.  
  
“Why do you have so much stuff?? It’s like a mini pharmacy in your drawer!”  
  
“I mean, I do play basketball as a regular so I get hurt quite often. That’s why I have this little setup here so that I can just treat the smaller stuff myself. Knowing first-aid is important you know! Here.” Johnny leaned forward and started dabbing some ointment onto Ten’s scraped knee.  
  
Ten winced at the stinging. Once Johnny was done with putting ointment and a bandaid on Ten’s knee he dabbed some onto other cream onto the various cuts on his arm and put a bandaid on the biggest one there. Once Johnny was done with Ten’s first-aid, he nodded in satisfaction and turned to look at Ten whose face had scrunched up and had gone a bit pink.  
  
“Don’t worry Ten, the stinging will go down in a while and my coach says stinging ointment usually means the cuts are getting better.” He patted Ten’s arm comfortingly and looked down to start putting the antiseptic ointment on himself, when Ten snatched it out of his hand. Johnny looked at him in confusion.  
  
“Let me do it.” The Thai boy spoke softly, earnest eyes staring into Johnny’s.  
  
Ten started slowly dabbing some ointment onto the cuts on Johnny’s leg, which the taller boy had kindly propped onto the chair he was sat on. Johnny looked on in silence as Ten put the medicine and bandaids on his cuts, fingers careful not to press the cotton too hard so as not to hurt the taller boy, and he felt something warm bloom in his chest. Something weird that he had been feeling regularly around the Thai boy. Once Ten was done with his leg, Johnny put his leg down when suddenly Ten rolled the chair right up to him and grabbed Johnny’s jaw.  
  
“Wha-”  
  
“There’s a cut on your forehead and a scrape on your chin.” Ten said as a way of explanation, his face uncomfortably close to Johnny’s eyeing his face critically. Johnny felt his face heat up.  
  
“Oh..okay.” Johnny whispered.  
  
Ten looked at Johnny then and jumped (rolled) a meter away upon realising their proximity. He laughed and scratched his neck trying to quell the embarrassment bubbling up his chest. Johnny laughed awkwardly and looked away. Ten slowly rolled the chair back up to Johnny and carefully started putting another ointment on Johnny’s face. The taller boy eventually closed his eyes and just let him do what he needed to do enjoying the feeling of soft cotton dabbing away at his face. Once he felt Ten’s hand pull away, he opened his eyes to see Ten staring at him, his hands frozen mid air with the antiseptic tube in one hand and a piece of cotton on the other. The two boys sat like that, staring at each other in Johnny’s room both too afraid to speak for some inexplicable reason. The air in Johnny’s room started to feel heavy and Ten really wanted to shake his leg or his shoulders or do _something_ because he just couldn’t take it anymore. But he didn’t do any of those things because for some reason, the weird heaviness, it felt good. Suddenly a door banged shut in the hallway and Johnny’s mom’s voice rang out in an apology which startled both boys off their chairs (Ten was getting real tired of being startled and shocked so often in the Seo household). Johnny got up abruptly, snatched the tube and cotton out of Ten’s hand, threw away the cotton and and started putting away all of the medicine he had removed from his drawer. He walked around the room straightening stuff that didn’t actually need to be straightened like his pile of books, the line of plushies on his desk, so on. He turned the desk lamp off and turned to Ten, who was still sat in his chair, now fidgeting with his the fabric on his pants and picking off imaginary pieces of lint.  
  
“‘Kay do you wanna go to sleep now?”  
  
Ten turned to him, nodded and got off the chair. He rolled it towards the desk and said, “Yeah I’m pretty tired now. I’ll just get my sleeping bag out.”  
  
“What do you mean, your sleeping bag?”  
  
“I mean...the bag..? That I’ll be sleeping in? Like the thing you use for camping?” Ten demonstrated zipping closed a sleeping bag.  
  
“No you dumbo, I know what a sleeping bag is! What I meant was that no guest of mine is sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag! I’ll be sleeping in my sleeping bag, you take the bed.”  
  
“That makes no sense it’s your bed!”  
  
“Yeah! And you’re my guest and my mom would murder me in Asian mom fury if she saw you sleeping on the floor tomorrow morning so take the bed!” Johnny put his hands on his hips.  
  
“Johnny. I am not going to let you sleep on the floor! I am your guest!!” Ten retorted.  
  
“Exactly why you are taking the bed!!” Johnny stomped his foot.  
  
“Did you just- did you just put your foot down?” Ten gaped.  
  
“Yes, yes I did.” The taller boy glared at him.  
  
Ten shook his head in amusement and started walking to where his overnight bag when Johnny held his wrist and said, “Look let’s just share the bed. It’s big enough for the two of us.”  
  
Ten whirled around with wide eyes.  
  
“What?”  
  
“Yeah let’s just share. Come on, you’re like..tiny and you won’t take up much space. Let’s go I’m tired.”  
  
Johnny dragged Ten by his wrist and Ten, too stunned to resist, followed and somehow found himself on Johnny’s bed, stuck between the wall and the taller boy. Ten tried to relax his body but for some reason, his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. Johnny had turned the bedside lamp off as well and now the only light in the room was from the glow in the dark space stickers on the ceiling and the outside light filtering in through the curtains. Ten tried to remember a word that described what the atmosphere of the room was but he just couldn’t recollect it.  
  
“Ten?” Johnny whispered quietly.  
  
Ten turned his head slightly towards the taller boy. “Yeah?”  
  
“Did you have fun today?”  
  
Ten nodded. He did not want to make too much noise because he figured that speaking loudly would break whatever peaceful spell had fallen on the room. He saw Johnny tuning his head and smiling at him from the faint light in the room and he smiled back at him.  
  
“I’m really going to miss you Johnny,” Ten breathed out after a few minutes, “Like really miss you a lot. I’m going to miss your friends too, I just spent a day with them but...I felt closer to them than I do to some of my friends back home.”  
  
“Hmm...me too Ten. Me too. But we’ll keep writing to each other…It won’t be that bad..” Johnny whispered softly.  
  
“It’s not the same.” Ten hated the way his voice wobbled when he spoke.

Johnny, upon hearing Ten speak, realised that the younger boy was probably going to cry again. He quickly shuffled closer to him and bumped his shoulder with his.  
  
“Hey...it’s okay. We went so many years without meeting each other and now you’ll be coming more frequently right? I mean you’re always welcome here and I’m sure the other guys would also love to have you over. Don’t worry we’ll be fine.” He reassured Ten and gently held his hand which was right beside his.  
  
Ten shuddered out a deep breath and said, “Yeah..okay. We’ll be okay.”  
  
“We will be. Don’t worry. You’re my best friend after all.”  
  
Johnny smiled again at him and squeezed his hand. Ten squeezed it back and gave the taller boy a wobbly smile in return.  
  
The two boys talked about their lives and school and other mundane things before falling off to sleep. Neither let go of the other’s hand.  
  
~~

Johnny woke up early in the morning feeling very hot and like there was a weight on his stomach. He forced his tacky eyes open and slowly turned his neck to see that it was 7am on his bedside table. He was about to shoot up out of bed, thinking he was going to be very late for school when he heard a shuffling to his side. He turned his head towards the source of the sound and lifted the blanket to see Ten’s sleeping face buried into the pillow. Johnny smiled softly at the boy sleeping with his mouth hanging open and one side of his hair flattened into the pillow. He looked down and saw that during the course of the night, the smaller boy had half curled into his side and draped his leg over his stomach, which explained the unusual warmth and weight that Johnny woke up to. They had slept holding hands and it seemed to Johnny that both of them had..sort of curled their arms around each other during the night too. He realised that he had no feeling in the arm that was tangled with Ten’s and he slid back down, too lazy and too sleepy to wake Ten up. It was just 7am anyways and he was taking the day off so neither of them had anywhere to be for another hour or so. He shifted slowly to face Ten, careful not to jostle him and pushed some of his hair out of his eyes. Johnny felt something warm creep up his neck when the younger boy scrunched his nose and muttered something before relaxing back again. The taller boy sighed and turned back so that he was facing the ceiling and scratched his neck awkwardly. He decided to try and recall his latest Geography lesson from memory until the younger boy woke up. He hated waking people up. Johnny was halfway through what he imagined was the first paragraph of the lesson when he realised that the warm feeling wasn’t going away. He shook his head and wrote it off as a result of the Thai boy practically glued to his side like a koala bear.

He must’ve shaken his head a bit too hard because he felt Ten shuffle a little bit and then he heard a soft groan. He felt his heart sink a little because he’d probably disturbed the younger boy’s sleep. Ten cracked the eye that wasn’t buried in the pillow open.  
  
“J..Johnny?” Ten croaked out.  
  
“Yeah I’m here. Morning...” Johnny whispered.  
  
“Hmm” Ten said before shuffling a little closer into Johnny’s side.    
  
Johnny felt his heart speed up and he placed his hand on his chest, not understanding why it was reacting that way. He decided to ignore it and gently shook Ten’s shoulder.  
  
“Ten, dude you need to wake up now.”  
  
“Why?” Came the muffled reply from the other boy.  
  
“Uh..I kind of need to pee and also, I can’t really feel my arm.”  
  
Johnny wiggled his side, the one Ten was sticking to a little bit and Ten’s eyes snapped open. He jolted back to the wall and Johnny’s eyes widened at his response.Ten scratched his thigh awkwardly.  
  
“I’m so sorry Johnny. I’m sort of a clingy sleeper. I really hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable or something. Ugh I’m so stupid!”  
  
“Whoa hey! No it’s okay don’t worry about it. I don’t mind and see,” Johnny made a show of rubbing his arm up and down and wiggled his fingers exaggeratedly, “ I can feel my arms again, no problem!”  
  
Ten giggled and Johnny grinned at him before getting up and jogging to the bathroom. He didn’t mention how he sort of regretted waking Ten up and how he sort of, weirdly, missed the younger boy’s warmth.

Once the two boys had brushed their teeth and showered and dressed for the day, they raced down the stairs to find Johnny’s mom and dad at the door. Johnny’s dad was about to leave for work and his mom kissed him on the cheek. Johnny made a loud gagging sound and his mom jumped, not expecting the boys to be awake that early. She recovered from the shock quickly and stuck her tongue out at Johnny before kissing his dad on his other cheek, making him blush lightly. Ten giggled and shoved Johnny for his childish behavior.  
  
“Ten, it was great meeting you. I hope you keep coming over. You’re always welcome to come stay in our house and I wish I could come see you off today, but I have a lot of work to do at the office.” Johnny’s dad said regretfully.  
  
“No no not at all. It’s alright! I had a lot of fun and it was really great to meet you too! Please don’t worry, I’ll come see you again.” Ten said waving his hands around frantically to explain that he understood that Johnny’s dad had commitments at work.  


Mr. Seo’s smiled at him, eyes crinkling at the sides with fine lines and ruffled his hair. “Alright then, have a safe trip back home. Please tell your parents that they should also come meet us the next time you all drop by here! I’ll see you again soon okay!” He turned to Johnny and said, “Bye son, have a great day and don’t get up to any mischief!”  
  
“Bye uncle!” “Bye Dad!” The two boys yelled at the same time as Johnny’s dad left for work.  
  
After that, the whole day passed by in a blur. They had a light breakfast of cereal and milk and toast as Johnny’s mom finished off her work on the computer at home since she had taken a day off. Then they watched some inane Korean romantic drama which, to Ten’s surprise, Johnny was very into, shouting and gasping at the important parts, just like his mother who was also watching with them. The three of them made bibimbap for lunch with the leftovers from the previous night and basically lazed around on the couch all through the day. Ten spoke to his parents at some point and recounted everything he had done. Johnny felt a weird mix of sadness and happiness as he heard how happily Ten was speaking about the previous day. He felt so pleased that the other boy had truly enjoyed the time they had spent together but the weight of having to separate started being more and more obvious as the hours passed by. In what felt like minutes, the entire morning and afternoon had passed and it was 5pm, time for Johnny and his mom to take Ten back to his hotel. Ten’s parents called up Johnny’s mom at some point and told her that they were done with their meetings and that they should all get together for a nice evening coffee before they left for the airport. At 5.15, just as Ten and Johnny were walking out of the Seo house, Taeyong, Jaehyun and Taeil came sprinting down the road. Ten barely managed to catch Taeil when he almost fell on top of him as the three of them skidded to a halt in front of Johnny’s house.  


“T-thank god! We made it oh my _GOD!_ ” Taeyong huffed out hunched over trying to catch his breath.  
  
Jaehyun, pink in the face from the sprinting patted Taeyong’s back and said, “You’re off now?”  
  
“Yeah..I have to go back to the hotel now and pack my stuff..” Ten said sadly.  
  
“Well...I don’t really know what to say Ten, except that it was amazing meeting you. You promise to come back again right?” Taeil asked.  
  
Ten looked at the three boys who were staring at him flushed and sweating with expectant looks on their faces.  
  
“Yeah. Yeah I promise I’ll come meet you all again.”  
  
“You won’t forget us?” Taeyong whispered so softly, that if they weren’t all huddled together his words would have disappeared with the wind. But everyone did hear him and Johnny who was watching everything by his mom’s car as he was loading Ten’s bag started walking over to them when he saw how everyone’s faces dropped.  
  
“No, oh Taeyong of course I won’t forget you. Any of you!” Ten grabbed his hands and pulled him into a hug. The older boy hugged him back tightly. As Taeyong let go of the hug, he had a wobbly bottom lip. Ten smiled at him reassuringly and squeezed his hand. He proceeded to hug the other two boys. Jaehyun engulfed him in a tight bear hug and sniffled into his shoulder. Ten had to pat his back a few times to calm him down enough to let go. The younger boy let go with an embarrassed, wet giggle and went to stand by Taeyong. Taeil hugged Ten by the waist and practically squeezed the life out of him and gave him a playful smack on the shoulder when he let go with a choked laugh.  
  
“Why are you all acting like he’s going to another country?” Johnny said loudly as he walked over to the sniffling group, trying to lighten the mood.  
  
Jaehyun kicked the back of his calves and Taeyong squawked angrily before slapping Johnny’s shoulder. Taeil stood beside Ten, shaking his head in dismay at Johnny’s pathetic attempt at making them feel good.  
  
“He’s only 14, but he’s already such an uncle. God save his kids. And you, you’re going to be stuck in a car with him for an hour and then some when you go to the airport.” Taeil said in a grave voice.  
  
“I don’t mind. He’s funny.” Ten giggled at Taeil.

Taeil’s eyes widened slightly at the younger boy on seeing how his mood had apparently gotten lighter because of Johnny.  
  
“Ten do you maybe-”  
  
“Okay kids! Let’s wind up, we have to leave now so that we reach Ten’s hotel on time!” johnny’s mom yelled at them from the driver's seat of the car. She had already backed out of their parking and was on the road, waiting for Johnny and Ten to join her. All four boys startled at her voice and frantically exchanged phone numbers and hugs and final goodbyes before Ten and Johnny got into the car. The three boys on the street kept jumping and waving the car goodbye and Ten did the same thing, sticking his head out the window until neither could see the other.  
  
At the hotel, everything passed by like a blur. Ten packed up his belongings and the things he’d bought in Seoul, his camera and other things he had got in the medium sized suitcase at the foot of his bed and Johnny watched him do it. Silently passing him things when asked. Johnny kept feeling a weight on his shoulders, growing as the minutes ticked closer to the time of Ten’s departure. Ten’s parents and his mom went to have coffee in the restaurant and the two boys joined them after Ten had finished packing. They gave Johnny’s mom a box full of books and knick-knacks from Thailand as their way of expressing their gratitude for taking care of their son. There was some typical Asian parent drama where his mom refused the gift but they _insisted_ she take it and eventually she did, saying it was a complete pleasure having Ten over and that he’s always welcome. That his dad send his best and wishes them a great flight home and that they have to come over next time. Ten’s parents exclaiming and saying they were so sorry for the situation this time, that they were incredibly busy. Johnny’s mom waving it away and the conversation going on and on. Johnny and Ten sat silently at the table, the weight on Johnny’s shoulder growing heavy constantly. They both watched their parents speak in a daze, talking only when spoken to, choosing to play with the sandwiches they had ordered. Their parents paid for the coffee and food and proceeded to the lobby. Ten and his parents checked out of the hotel and Johnny and his mom walked out to the parking lot with them where the car was waiting with the suitcases already loaded. Johnny’s mom squeezed his hand lightly before he got into the backseat with Ten. It felt like a cruel, backwards replay of the time they had picked Ten and his family up from the airport to Johnny. Johnny’s mom and Ten’s parents started chatting amicably the minute they were on the road but the two boys sat quietly, staring out the window. They were halfway towards the airport when Johnny finally broke the silence in the backseat, unable to take the weight on his shoulders.  
  
“Hey Ten?” Johnny whispered.  
  
Ten startled at the sudden sound of Johnny’s voice. “Yeah?”  
  
“I’m..I’m really going to miss you.” The taller boy realised this was probably the first time he had actually said it. He felt like the weight on his shoulders was going to crush him.  
  
“Oh Johnny. Me too. I’m really going to miss you so much.” Ten shuffled closer to the taller boy who was glaring at his lap and linked their arms together.  
  
“It’s not fair. It’s not fair at all. We met after so many years and now you’re leaving again.”  
  
Ten sighed at how, after all this time of acting mature, Johnny was complaining. Part of him was happy that the older boy was finally being honest but a larger part of him felt broken at the sound of Johnny’s voice.  
  
“Hey..hey it’s okay Johnny. I told you I’ll come back. My parents are going to be making regular trips to Seoul from now on so I’ll have lots of chances to come see you. Plus you know we’ll keep writing to each other! You said it yourself.” He squeezed the taller boy’s arm and forced out his brightest smile.  
  
“Promise?” Johnny turned to look at him hopefully.  
  
“I promise. Don’t worry. We’ll meet again.” Ten said sweetly and bumped his head against Johnny’s shoulder and the taller boy smiled at him, just as they entered the airport area.  
  
~~  
  
**4 YEARS LATER** **  
** **  
** Johnny was pissed off.  
  
He was happy but he was mostly pissed off.  
  
This was not what he had signed up for when Doyoung had said ‘a small gig at my place’. A throbbing crowd of over a hundred, almost two hundred sweaty twenty-somethings packed in a house was not what one imagined when someone said _‘a small gig’._ Then again, he was getting paid for this so he just bit back his frustration and focused on turning his discs and pressing the right buttons to make the crowd move to his beat.  
  
He _lived_ for this. People swaying, dancing and jumping to his command at one flick of his finger. He revelled in it. The sweat that was pooling in the back of his tank top and on his forehead as he worked the table and mixed some Top 40’s track in Doyoung’s student house for whatever party the honor roll student was throwing with his housemates as a way to blow off steam before the new semester started. The crowd yelled and screamed. Couples made out and people were grinding, smoke was filling the air and the alcohol was flowing and Johnny was reveling in the energy. But he was still pissed off because had he known that the crowd was going to be this big, he would’ve gotten better equipment and better tracks. He hated not giving his best during a gig and he sure as hell was going to express his discontentment with Doyoung at the end of the party.  
  
Almost towards the end of his set, he spotted a head of silver hair, trying to pass through the crowd without making anyone notice. But Johnny noticed and Johnny put on a track that he had previously mixed and asked Mark, his assistant (a high-school junior from his neighborhood who he had snuck into the venue because his jackass assistant, Taeil had bailed on him in favor of completing some dumb project for some dumb contest. Johnny’s brain had drifted during the discussion but he remembered nodding and giving his permission for Taeil to take the event off) to take over for a couple of minutes. Mark, the wide eyed little muffin, nodded enthusiastically and took over the DJ table. Johnny resisted the urge to coo at how cute he was and hurried off in the general direction of where he had seen the shock of silver hair go.  
  
It was in the backyard, behind a tree that Johnny spotted him and stalked over, pushing away a couple making out sloppily on the wall that was blocking him.  
  
“You know if you want to blend in and be stealthy you should probably dye your hair a different colour.”  
  
Taeyong turned around and let out a puff of smoke and smiled, all teeth at Johnny. Johnny’s eyes widened fractionally when he saw the other’s face before he cleared his expression and fell back to an easy smile. Taeyong had a bruise on his left cheek and a split lip. As he put his joint back in his mouth, Johnny saw that his knuckles were split and bleeding slightly. The silver haired boy shuffled over to Johnny who took the end of the joint from his mouth and took a puff before throwing it to the ground and crushing it. He noticed the tears in Taeyongs clothes and felt tendrils of worry crawling in his stomach but he forced them down quickly before they crawled up his throat and out his mouth and inevitably scared the other boy off. Johnny knew better now after so many years, about how to deal with Taeyong when he got into a fight. He knew that if he said the wrong thing, tripped the wrong wire, he would not see the other boy for weeks on end and he would stay worried the entire time for his friend. This was the first time in a month that he had seen Taeyong and the other boy still looked relatively healthy and effortlessly handsome and ethereal even with the cuts and bruises on his face.  
  
Johnny flicked his black fringe out of his face and asked, “What happened?”  
  
“The guys I beat up last time from the area near Seoul Bar got me back today.” Taeyong spat.  
  
“Damn. How are they doing?”  
  
“Oh the three of them are in the hospital. Again.” Taeyong said with a casual shrug.  
  
A part of Johnny shuddered inwardly before he said, “You going to clean that up?” with a nod at his bruises and cuts.  
  
Taeyong had drifted off and was looking at the sky before he registered what Johnny said and nodded shortly, “Yeah that’s why I came back to this place. Doyoung keeps a fully equipped first aid kit in the bathroom. Would’ve been nice if the asshole gave me a warning about the fuckin’ party before I decided to drop by. It’s my house too.”  
  
“He did. He sent you a text last night Taeyong.”  
  
“Oh well, my phone’s been broken for a couple days so guess that’s why I didn’t get the message.”  
  
“Right. Anyways, let’s go dude. I’ll help you clea-”  
  
“I don’t need your help Johnny.” Taeyong cut him off sharply.  
  
“Right..right. Well I’ll just stand beside you so that you don’t fuck up Doyoung’s kit arrangement. You’re never the one who has to deal with his pissy self when he sees the mess you make of the box everytime you use it.”  
  
“Fine.” Taeyong agreed and the two of them shouldered and shoved past the crowd, still bumping to the music, Johnny spared a moment to feel a sense of pride towards Mark for handling the crowd so well, and walked up the stairs to the house bathroom.  
  
Taeyong bent with a barely muffled groan and pulled out the first aid kit from under the sink. The silver haired boy removed his jacket and shirt and Johnny sat on the edge of the bathtub and eyed him carefully. He had a deeper gash near his chest and a few bruises on his abdomen and smaller cuts along his arms. Taeyong started working on the gashes with expert control of the swab of cotton. The kind someone could get only from practice through repetition.  
  
“Were there knives?” Johnny asked quietly. Casually.  
  
Taeyong paused for a second before starting back on the cut near his rib. “Yeah.”  
  
“Oh,” A tendril of worry slipped out without Johnny’s permission, “How’d it get that bad? You never let it escalate that much..”  
  
Johnny knew that Taeyong enjoyed fighting and that his friend had gone down this road a few years ago and hadn’t turned back, despite Johnny and the others trying to protect him. Eventually they had given up on trying to bring him back and had instead, resigned to helping him clean up his wounds or give him company when he allowed them after whatever he got up to at night. But he never let the fights go on long enough for him to be more than lightly bruised, except on a few occasions. Taeyong preferred to win and he preferred seeing the other person at his feet. He disliked it very much when he got hurt and it rarely happened that people managed to get him because of his lithe body and fast movements. Except on certain occasions. Johnny recalled the circumstances surrounding the few times that Taeyong had let himself be really beaten up and hurt. A warning bell started going off in Johnny’s head and he fought with himself to keep a stoic face. Because if he cracked now and expressed his worry over his friend, the other boy would bolt and not come back for a long time. Johnny was walking on eggshells.  
  
Taeyong placed the used swab on the sink counter and turned to look at Johnny. Johnny’s heart started beating erratically at the expression he saw on the silver haired boy’s face.  
  
“Taeyong what-”  
  
“He’s back.”  
  
Johnny’s heart sped up unimaginably and he hoped it wasn’t who he thought it was. “Who?” He whispered instead, thankful that the bass from the ground floor was masking the sound of his heart.  
  
“Jaehyun’s back, Johnny.” Taeyong’s face crumpled and Johnny’s heart stopped in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I am SO SO sorry that this chapter took so long to upload. Please don't hate me! There was a lot of stuff going on in my personal life and everything just happened all at once, leaving me no time to write this fic. I'm truly so sorry!!  
> Anyways! It's finally here! The time skip!! I've been waiting to write this since the day I thought of the fic. Things are going to be extremely wild from now on and I hope you are all strapped in! I'll be trying to upload as frequently as I used to but PLEASE forgive me if I miss my usual publishing date (Sunday or Monday depending on where you are).  
> This fic is NOT going on hiatus any time soon but the updates might be slower because I am still overloaded with irl responsibilities.  
> Also thank you for sticking around for so long and encouraging me!! <3 You all make me so happy when you enjoy what I write.
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: There is a very mild anxiety attack in this chapter. I will not be marking it specifically because I feel like that breaks the flow of the story. However, for those who want to skip it, it starts at 'The boy dropped the bag of chips-' and ends at 'Johnny nodded towards the door.'  
> Please be warned and stay safe.

 

“What do you mean Jaehyun’s back?” Johnny’s voice wobbled as he asked quietly.  
  
Taeyong just shook his head, poking the cotton swab into his arm with a bit too much force. He was pointedly not looking at Johnny anymore.  
  
“Taeyong. What do you mean. Jaehyun’s back?” Johnny grit out a bit impatient, a bit desperate.  
  
“Fuck!” Taeyong had caused a clotted cut to open, “I mean he’s back Johnny. He’s back in Seoul. He’s back here.”  
  
“He’s probably visiting again.”  
  
“No he’s back for good this time.”  
  
“How do you know?”  
  
“I have my sources.”  
  
“Jesus…”  
  
“Hahaha,” Taeyong laughed without any joy or mirth, cleaning out the cuts on his other arm, “It’s like the universe is out to fuck me over.”  
  
“When did he come back?”  
  
“A month ago apparently.”  
  
“Fuck...Now what?”  
  
Taeyong threw the used swabs into the dustbin and carefully placed the ointments back where they were supposed to be in the kit (Johnny had lied about Taeyong messing the kit up and Taeyong knew that Johnny had lied) and shrugged his jacket back on.  
  
“I don’t know Johnny.”  
  
“You gonna go meet him?”  
  
“What the fuck?”  
  
“I just as-”  
  
“No fuck off. I’m not going to meet him and if I ever see him around he better run for his life.” Taeyong spat.  
  
“Okay.” Johnny looked at the rip in his jeans and nodded. “Are you going to be okay?” He whispered hesitantly.  
  
“Me? I’m going to be just peachy-keen Johnny. In fact I am just fine right now. This doesn’t affect me or anything I do.”  
  
“Okay Taeyong. I’m going to head downstairs now. Mark’s been in charge for too long. You..you try to get some sleep. Take some painkillers for the bruises.” Johnny got up and headed to the bathroom door.  
  
“Yeah. Oh and Johnny?” Taeyong called out.  
  
“Hmm?”  
  
“That Mark kid…? He’s pretty good.” Taeyong cracked out a smile. The first genuine one Johnny had seen in months.  
  
Johnny smiled back at him, “Yeah he is. You should meet him someday. He’d think you’re the coolest person ever.”  
  
Taeyong smiled and shook his head gently, “Yeah maybe…”  
  
Johnny closed the door behind him and went down the stairs before his heart crumpled in on itself at the state of his friend. Taeyong had said it didn’t affect him. But the expression that Johnny had seen on the other boy’s face when he had told him that Jaehyun was back told him otherwise. It had been too long that Taeyong had let his cold facade crack and let Johnny see what was happening inside. For the trigger to be Jaehyun was some kind of poetic cruelty, in Johnny’s opinion. He didn’t hate the younger boy, no. Jaehyun was still Jaehyun. The boy hadn’t had a choice in what had happened so many years ago. But he did resent him a little bit for not keeping in contact. Then again, a lot of people hadn’t stayed in touch, Johnny thought as he shouldered through the crowd easily and reached the DJ station.

Mark looked at him with wide, happy eyes as he pressed two keys on the table. The high of mixing tracks and getting people to jump to your command was addicting and Johnny knew very well what it felt like. Johnny stood by the side of the table and sipped on the can of now lukewarm beer that he had kept away until Mark finished off the track.  
  
“Hyung!! Dude thank you so much that was so much fun!!” Mark yelled at him as he got off the makeshift stage.  
  
“You did a great job Mark. Next time I might let you stay on longer.” Johnny said with an easy smile as he put his headphones back on his head.  
  
Mark gave him a huge smile and a short hug and made his way down the floor. Johnny reminded him that they’d be packing up in half an hour or so and told him not to go too far before he resumed his work.  
  
“Alright everyone!! Having a good time?” Johnny said into the mic and the crowd cheered in response, “That was my friend Mark mixing and he did a great job, but let’s get fired up some more!” The crowd went crazy when Johnny let the beat drop and he _glowed._  
  
~~

Johnny woke up with a groan the next morning. He opened his eyes and felt the not so gentle pounding of the hangover he was sure was going to nurse the entire day. He shifted and felt the side of his bed and breathed out a sigh of relief that he was alone. He had had enough one night stands for a while and he thanked his stars that he hadn’t brought anyone home after the party at Doyoung’s. Despite the fact that enough people had approached him (and his ego purred at the thought) he had maintained his vow of celibacy (for the time being). He heard some noises from the kitchen and pushed himself out of bed with a groan, wrapping the blanket around himself. He walked out of his room like a trashy blanket burrito with his hair sticking up in all directions, gunk in his eyes and squinted against the bright light streaming in through the windows. He saw Taeil at the kitchen and smiled lopsidedly. Doyoung had probably told the older boy about how Johnny had drank himself to oblivion after he had finished off his work as the party DJ. Johnny had a tendency to go hard after a successful gig and he was thankful that his friends looked out for him despite him doing stupid things sometimes. Like three games of beer pong and an upside down keg stand. And a shot of vodka. Or five.

“Hey.” Johnny croaked and scrunched his face at the disgusting, mouldy taste in his mouth. He went to sit at the tiny table that he had managed to shove in the corner of his kitchen.

“Hey idiot.” Taeil turned around and smirked at him. Johnny assumed he was supposed to seem superior and smug but the frilly orange apron really dampened the whole thing. “Glad to see you’re alive after what I heard you did last night.”  
  
“Damn Taeil-hyung. Let a teenager wild out. Just ‘cause you’re getting old-”  
  
Taeil threw a spoon at his head (missed) and crossed his arms. “Shut up Johnny you went overboard yesterday and you know it.” He passed him a glass of water that Johnny accepted with a grateful smile, “The fuck were you doing drinking that much. Doyoung said you had to be carried home and you made Mark panic with worry.”  
  
“I’d just had a really good gig man chill out!”  
  
“The truth Johnny.” Taeil frowned at him.  
  
“Jesus..fine okay. I saw Taeyong yesterday. Spoke to him.”  
  
“What?” Taeil’s eyes popped out of his skull and he removed the apron.  
  
“Yeah. Taeyong went back to the house and I spoke to him. He seemed okay. I mean he had been in a horrible fight but he let me in Taeil. Just a bit.” Johnny twiddled his thumbs.  
  
Taeil slowly sat down on the chair beside his and kept a pot of spicy ramen on the table. “What..what did he say? Wait what do you mean a horrible fight? What happened?”  
  
“He had knife cuts and shit Taeil.”  
  
“Holy fuck…He never lets it get that bad. What happened?” Taeil looked at Johnny with concern painting his features making him look older than he was.  
  
“He said Jaehyun’s back hyung. He said he’s back for good. I’ve not seen him the way he was last night in a long time.” Johnny shook his head.  
  
“How’d he find out. Does he know what Jaehyun’s up to?”  
  
“He said he has his sources and no I didn’t ask that much. It was a miracle he even opened up enough to tell me what was wrong.”  
  
Taeil nodded and the two of them started eating the ramen directly from the pot.

“I swear hyung, I felt my heart drop out of my ass when I saw Taeyong’s face.”  
  
“Yeah I can’t imagine. He’s barely spoken to me the past year,”Taeil paused before he asked hesitantly, ”Heard anything from him?”  
  
‘Who?” Johnny asked, mouth full of ramen and Taeil gave him the evil eye, “You mean Ten? Nah..you know we stopped speaking to each other almost two years ago. Last I know he’d gotten a crazy dye job done and was competing at the national level in Gymnastics. He’s probably gotten too busy to write. It’s OK I’m not mad!” Johnny said hurriedly when he saw Taeil’s expression grow more and more sour by the minute.  
  
“What about text or email or like..Facebook?? It’s the 21st century I’m sure he can come up with ways to contact you. Just send a _‘Hey! I’m alive!’_ message at least.” Taeil said in a dry tone.  
  
“Nah..I’m pretty sure his people don’t allow him to have a Facebook account since he’s quite popular. I remember seeing him on TV a few years ago. He had banners and fans and shit dude it was wild. And about the other stuff..well..I dunno. I gave him my number a while ago but his clumsy ass must’ve misplaced it. Haha for someone who has a career in balancing and what not, he’s surprisingly clumsy! Oh well...who knows.” Johnny shrugged.  
  
Taeil gave Johnny a look before swiping the pot of ramen from him and taking it to the sink while Johnny shouted out an indignant ‘ _HEY! I was going to lick the pot!’_  
  
“As long as you’re okay Johnny. I’ve kind of lost Taeyong, I don’t wanna lose you too.”  
  
“Hyung..” Johnny got up and walked over to the kitchen counter, “You haven’t lost Taeyong. He’s just had it really rough over the past few years and you know that. And don’t worry about me I’m good.” He smiled at the older boy.  
  
Taeil smiled back at him and said, “Okay great. I’m going back to my place now, you do the dishes and clean up this dump before I send photos to your mom about how your living space has devolved into a pigsty.”  
  
Johnny sputtered angrily and pushed Taeil’s shoulder before groaning and remembering his hangover induced headache.  
  
“You’re a damn nuisance. Go away. The next time you come, this place will be neater than your perfect little studio. As it is you have another pair of hands around the house to help you. I’m all by myself, alone, solitary, a lone wolf.” Johnny finished off dramatically.  
  
“Yeah yeah shut up. This is how you thank your loving hyung for coming to check on your hungover ass and making you ramen isn’t it. Fuckin brat.”  
  
“How’s WinWin anyways?”  
  
Taeil blushed and Johnny rolled his eyes. “He’s good. He’s been enjoying his classes this semester.”  
  
Johnny gagged and motioned him towards the door, “That’s great hyung, you can go bother him now since you verified that I’m alive and well. I’ll text the others in the GC I’m sure everyone’s overwhelmed with worry for me.”  
  
“Right..yeah..sure.” Taeil said sarcastically, “‘Kay bye Johnny! Don’t text me if you need anything!”

Taeil closed the door behind him and Johnny walked over to his couch, took the painkiller that the older boy had so kindly left him on the table and decided that it would be in his best interests if he just, laid down and napped the whole hangover off. So he did just that by curling up into the couch and wrapping the blanket around him and pretending like everything was okay when it really wasn’t. Johnny tossed and turned until he found the best position to sleep in and fell into a dreamless slumber.

~~

He woke up 8 hours later with a dry mouth, a grumbling stomach but (thankfully) no headache. Johnny walked over to his fridge and saw to his dismay that it was unsurprisingly empty except for a tube of mustard. He looked through his shelves and found nothing and then decided that it would be wise to go out and do some basic grocery shopping even if he had to leave the security and warmth of his blanket burrito. He told himself he would even go out to eat something for dinner as a treat for handling life so well and not worry about the state of his bank balance for once since he had done three well paying gigs in the last two weeks. Johnny got dressed in his oldest and softest pair of jeans, warm socks and an oversized sweater because ‘ _fuck sweater paws are comfortable when you’re recovering from a bad hangover’_. He made himself look halfway decent by washing his face and running his fingers through his hair. He then thought _fuck it_ when it came to wearing his lenses and threw on his prescription glasses. He hated them but they helped him see and right now, it was practicality over fashion so he shrugged at his sub-par reflection in the bathroom mirror, made finger guns at himself because why not and walked to the doorway.

He grabbed his shopping bag from the hook near the door, his keys, wallet and his phone and earphones before shutting the door of his apartment. On the way to the supermarket he made a mental note of everything he needed to buy and admired the way the roads and little paths in Seoul lit up during the night. He had moved out of his parent’s place at his own insistence and found a small studio for himself in the city itself so that he was closer to his university and so that he could learn to fend for himself. He had managed to live out his first year with minimal problems and had gotten a part time job so that he wouldn’t have to ask his parents to fund him. It got better when he started getting DJing gigs after being made to stand in for someone at an event in his university. That was midway the previous year. Johnny felt proud of the fact that he was now sustaining himself and his parents didn’t need to worry about him or help him monetarily at all. The DJing stints were luckily well placed and planned so he had plenty of time to do his studies and Johnny always felt like he had good compartmentalisation skills. He missed the security that his parent’s provided, the fact that at home, he didn’t have to deal with the cranky old landlord at the end of every month. But they were just an hour and twenty minutes drive away and he went to see them regularly.  
  
So all in all, Johnny thought, as he strolled down the footpath to the supermarket, life was good. But even though his thoughts were positive and lovely, there was a ball of dread growing in his stomach. Something that kept telling him _‘something’s about to go very very wrong’_ with every step he took. He realised it had something to do with what Taeyong had told him the night before and the way his friend had looked at him. But Johnny, being a well adjusted adult, pushed that ball of dread down as he pushed the door to the supermarket open. He picked up a basket and waved to the part timer at the counter, a kid named Jungwoo who worked at the supermarket on weekends. Jungwoo waved back with a cute smile and Johnny’s heart urged to coo, and he did quietly as he browsed through the racks of cereal. This was nice, he thought. Grocery shopping like a responsible adult, taking care of what you eat was a new form of self-care that Johnny had discovered when he started living by himself. He looked at the fresh produce section and bought some vegetables feeling proud of his inner Asian mom as he picked out the best vegetables and threw the ones that were not upto the mark for him with a look of distaste from the big open cartons. He walked around gathering everything he wanted to buy and was checking off his mental shopping list when someone tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
“Hyung..?”  
  
Johnny felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. He turned around slowly and was met with a face he had really hoped and wished he wouldn’t have to see. But the universe does not work according to the wishes of Johnny Seo and that had been made clear years ago. By now Johnny had developed a resistance to the shit that the universe decided to throw at him so he squared his shoulders and smiled tightly at the person standing in front of him. The boy smiled back at him nervously. Somewhere inside Johnny, a childish part of him wanted to make a scene and throw accusations at the younger boy, but he was well aware of the circumstances that made things become the way they are. But a much larger part of Johnny was proud of how his friend had grown. He had filled out, his skin had cleared up and he had grown much taller, the both of them able to look at each other without either having to tilt their heads. He looked like a man now, despite him being two years younger than him.

 _‘What the fuck what the fuck what the fucking shit?!’_ Johnny thought to himself.  
  
“Jaehyun...what are you doing here?” Johnny said out loud.  
  
Jaehyun scratched the back of his neck, a nervous tick he hadn’t gotten rid of Johnny noticed, “Oh...um..I kind of stay near here now?” He finished it off like a question and Johnny squinted at him.  
  
“Why?” Johnny corrected himself when he saw the younger boy flinch slightly at his abrupt question, “I mean, why aren’t you staying with your family if you’re back for good? Everyone who stays here either goes to my university or-” Johnny’s eyes popped out of his head. “No.” He said shaking his head.  
  
“I..yeah..I joined this year. My parents thought it was the best option for me. I promise you that I didn’t have much say in it,” Johnny scoffed internally and rolled his eyes as Jaehyun paused for a second, “Wait what do you mean back for good, hyung? I never told you about that.”  
  
_‘Ah fuck’_ Johnny thought. He pushed his glasses up his nose to buy some time and scrambled for an explanation. Coming up with nothing he whispered, “Taeyong told me.”  
  
Now it was Jaehyun’s turn to gape. The boy dropped the bag of chips and ramen in his hand and visibly started shaking gently in a panic, “H-How does he know? Why does he know? Hyung he can’t know I’m back. I’m not- hyung- I’m not ready! This isn’t good! Oh my _god!_ ”  
  
Johnny started panicking when he saw Jaehyun panicking. A small cruel voice in his head told him to just leave the boy like that but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that. As much as he wanted to do _something_ to make Jaehyun realise what he had put Taeyong through, he knew it wasn’t his place to get revenge or act like an emotional vigilante on his friend’s behalf. So he approached the younger boy who was still shaking and picked up the things he had dropped and put them in his basket. He straightened up and tentatively reached out a hand towards the other boys shoulder, meeting no refusal, started patting it the way he knew Jaehyun liked (all those years ago). The younger boy’s eyes widened and he looked at Johnny and for a second, Johnny was afraid that Jaehyun had stopped breathing (he had). Johnny continued patting his shoulder and when Jaehyun finally started breathing normally again, Johnny nodded towards the door.  
  
“Let’s go Jaehyun, we’ll talk outside.”  
  
Jaehyun nodded and walked outside with his head down. Johnny saw him sit at one of the tables outside the supermarket as he proceeded to the checkout counter slowly going through the events of the last half hour to try and process. Jungwoo looked up from his textbook and to his credit, pretended very hard to seem oblivious. Johnny knew that besides himself and Jaehyun there were barely any people in the store and he wished Jungwoo would stop looking at him with a blank stare, but he appreciated it all the same. He wasn’t ready to discuss anything about _anything_ with anyone.  
  
“You done hyung?”  
  
Johnny nodded and placed his basket on the counter and Jungwoo started to ring everything up with mechanical perfection.  
  
“Your total is 47840 won. Do you need me to bag your items for you?” Jungwoo looked up at him with a gentle smile.  
  
“Nah that’s okay I got my eco-bag. You go back to studying.” Johnny lifted his bag and shook it a little to demonstrate that yes, he did in fact have an eco-bag and he was a responsible citizen. Jungwoo smiled at him and thanked him before settling down again as Johnny put everything he had bought into his bag. They fell into a pleasant silence with the only sounds being the noise from the roads filtering in and the sound of groceries being placed into the bag.  
  
Once Johnny was done, he paid with his card and was about to go when Jungwoo cleared his throat pointedly, “Is everything okay hyung?”  
  
Johnny turned around and gave the younger boy a smile he hoped wasn’t too fake and said, “Yeah Jungwoo. Don’t worry about it.”  
  
“Alright hyung…if you say so..” Jungwoo nodded at him with an expression that clearly said I see through you but I’m not going to ask.  
  
Johnny waved him goodbye as he stepped out of the market and the younger boy gave him a thumbs-up and fist pump in the eternal ‘ _fighting’_ gesture. Johnny really liked Jungwoo, he had his head screwed on properly and he was a good, cute kid. He shivered against the gust of wind that hit him as he walked towards the table that Jaehyun was sat at. He gave the boy a once-over from a distance, properly looked at him and noticed that he looked _tired._ Johnny knew that feeling all too well and he didn’t like it that Jaehyun was probably feeling it now. He felt a pang of sympathy for his old friend. He walked over to him and dumped his stuff on the table with a loud clatter effectively startling the younger boy enough to make him jump in his seat and look at him with wide, scared eyes.  
  
“Hyung! Jesus fuck, that scared me!” He wheezed and looked at the bag, “Wow, you have bought a lot of stuff…”  
  
“Hehe, yeah, it’s groceries for the month and I was completely out anyways.”  
  
There was an awkward pause where Johnny stood in front of Jaehyun and Jaehyun was sat stiffly in the chair. Neither knew what to do and Johnny, realising he was going to have to be the bigger boy cleared his throat and looked at Jaehyun, directly in the eyes (because that’s what Doyoung had told him establishes and/or starts a serious conversation apparently).  
  
“Uh...I guess we need to talk..?”  
  
Jaehyun nodded down at his shoes and shrugged.  
  
“Do you live far from here?” Johnny asked him.  
  
“No, not really just a fifteen minutes walk from the supermarket.”  
  
“Okay, alright, do you want to come over to my house for dinner? It’s like...five minutes away. Just down the lane.” Johnny pointed in the general direction of his house.  
  
“Ah no! Hyung...no. That’s okay. It’s getting pretty late and we can talk some other time. We’ll...we’ll figure something out.”  
  
“Jaehyun just shut up and come on,” Johnny sighed, putting his hands in his jeans, “You can carry the grocery bag as a kind gesture to thank me for dinner.”  
  
~~  
  
Johnny started walking ahead, mind still spinning slightly at how everything seemed to have spiralled. Had he not gone to the market and _starved_ he wouldn’t have gotten into this mess. Or to be more precise, the mess it was going to be if Taeyong found out anything. He buried his face in his hoodie for a second and shivered. Behind him, Jaehyun got up slowly and picked up the grocery bag. He started following Johnny down the lane and neither of them said a word until they reached Johnny’s building. The older boy punched in the floor number on the elevator and got in, gesturing Jaehyun to get in with a shake of his head.  
  
Once they reached Johnny’s floor and got into his flat, Jaehyun stood awkwardly at the door until the older boy told him to come in. He wondered when Jaehyun had gotten so cautious around him as he walked into his living room and then came to the conclusion that four years did change people a lot. The same way it pulled them apart too. He, himself was probably a stranger in Jaehyun’s mind now. So many things had changed. He had glasses now of all things. He remembered teasing Taeyong long ago when he’d seen his for the first time and puffed out his chest claiming he would never get glasses. Look at yourself now twelve year old Johnny, he thought bitterly to himself as he approached the coffee table and grabbed the bottle of water he’d left on it.  
  
“You can keep the grocery bag on the kitchen counter, I’ll get working on dinner soon. You’re okay with fried rice right? I’m kinda out of it today or I would’ve cooked something nicer.” Johnny said walking into the kitchen.  
  
“Yeah hyung, of course. I...I’m sorry to impose on you like this. You probably had other plans for the evening.” Jaehyun stood at the counter diving Johnny’s tiny kitchen and the living room.  
  
“Nah my plan was to go to a restaurant and eat by myself,” Johnny turned the rice machine on after measuring out the rice and water he needed, “Anyways, it’s been long. You and me,” He turned to look at Jaehyun with a smile, trying to get the younger boy to relax. “How have you been dude?” He picked up the grocery bag and walked up to the refrigerator to stash the vegetables away. He kept some of them on the counter to put in with the rice.  
  
“I’ve been good hyung. I mean, as good as I could be. You know what happened...It..It wasn’t easy.” Jaehyun says quietly.  
  
“Yeah...I know. I mean sort of, whatever Taeyong felt like telling me.” Johnny shrugged and started cutting up some of the vegetables and heated up the pan.  
  
Jaehyun quietly mulled over what Johnny had said as the older boy quickly stir fried some vegetables. He always appreciated Johnny’s relaxed behavior when it came to handling situations where the tensions were high. His demeanor always brought the stress level down and he made everyone feel comfortable. By this point in time, Jaehyun had exhausted himself trying to pretend everything was okay and it raised his hackles when his other friends tried to pry things out of him because his smiles weren’t reaching his eyes or whatever. A ding from the rice cooker broke him out of his thoughts.  
  
“You don’t mind the rice being spicy right?” Johnny asked turning around briefly as he scooped up the rice into the pan.  
  
Jaehyun shook his head and said, “No I like spicy food.”  
  
Johnny nodded and dumped some sauces into the pan and started cooking the rice with the vegetables. A wonderful smell started filling the apartment and Jaehyun felt his stomach rumble. Once the rice was done, the younger boy assisted Johnny in carrying the pan and some chopsticks to the table in the kitchen. He smiled at the thought of Johnny being lazy about cutlery because that’s what he did at his place. They still had some things in common. It reassured Jaehyun. The two boys sat at the table, Johnny wearing a bright orange apron (that Jaehyun chose not to comment on) and started digging into their food.  
  
“Hyung! This is really good!” Jaehyun exclaimed happily.  
  
“Thanks man, you need to learn to fend for yourself when you’re staying alone.” Johnny replied thoughtfully, chewing his food.  
  
“Yeah I suppose so.” Jaehyun continued eating, “Hyung...what did you mean when you said, whatever Taeyong hyung felt like telling you? Are you two not..not close anymore?” Jaehyun’s voice dipped to a whisper towards the end.  
  
Johnny sighed in defeat, wanting to put off the conversation for longer (despite having been the one to have invited the younger boy over to talk). He put his chopsticks down and looked at Jaehyun. “Everyone splintered after a while Jaehyun. We all grew up and grew apart it was just the natural progression of things. We’re all still friends but, you know,” Johnny shrugged sadly, “Taeyong, he kind of...distanced himself and eventually he just shut himself out.”  
  
Jaehyun’s eyes shone in pain when he asked, “Was it because of me?”  
  
Johnny sighed again, “To be completely straightforward, it was. Sort of. There was a lot of stuff that happened to him when you weren’t there Jaehyun and I think, it would be best if someday, somehow you could speak to him to understand what he went through. Those things also played a huge part in what he’s pushed himself to become. He only told Taeil and I...and eventually, Doyoung, his housemate, a little bit after a lot of trial and errors on our part to _get_ him to speak to us. I don’t think it would be right of me to tell you the stuff he trusted us with, but Jaehyun, I think he needs you and I think, you need him too.”  
  
Jaehyun dropped his head and his breathing had gotten uneven. “Hyung, I’m so sorry for everything I put him through. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make it up to him. I want to see him hyung.”  
  
“I know. I understand. But right now he doesn’t need to be made up to. He just needs... _something_ that none of us could ever give him but, something I feel like you could.”

The younger boy took a deep breath to steady himself and looked up at Johnny, “Okay. Okay..I’ll figure it out. I want to fix this as much as I can. I-” Jaehyun choked a little, “I miss him.”

Johnny reached forward and patted his arm sympathetically, “I don’t know what will happen Jaehyun. We’re all pretty mad at you for the way that you left and the way that you didn’t bother contacting us for four years. But...you’re still our little Jaehyunie and as your hyung, I’m telling you that if you put your mind to it, I think it can be fixed. It won’t be quick. Taeyong’s not the same boy he was four years ago.”  
  
“I’m really sorry hyung. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to any of you. I’m sorry things fell apart with Taeyong hyung and I’m so so sorry that I made you all upset. I..there were a lot of things that happened and it was just -”  
  
“Hey! Stop. Breathe. Jaehyun, dude it’s okay. You’ll figure it out and I’m here for you to talk to. Always have been,” Johnny smirked at him pointedly to which Jaehyun gave him a wobbly smile, “And I always will be. You don’t need to explain what went down with you right now.” Johnny smiled at him kindly.  
  
Jaheyun nodded and the two boys wrapped up their dinner. Jaehyun volunteered to wash the dishes from dinner and from earlier in the morning that Johnny had been too hungover and asleep to wash. The younger boy was systematically washing and rinsing with the suds rising up his rubber gloved arms. The orange apron had been transferred to him to protect his clothes from the soap and water. Johnny was standing to the side telling him about his major at university and gave him some tips about the professors on campus. Johnny also told him about his DJing gigs which made Jaehyun exclaim in happiness and shower the older boy in compliments about how he had always seemed to have a flair with music and mixing since his old mixtape days. The conversation eventually petered off and two boys enjoyed companionable silence with the sounds of dishes being washed and rinsed being the only noises in the apartment.  
  
Jaehyun was drying the dishes and Johnny was drinking some (decaf) coffee when the younger boy said, “Hey Johnny hyung! How’s Ten? What’s he up to nowadays. Please tell me you guys use Facebook and Skype or even Kakaotalk nowadays.”  
  
Johnny looked down at his coffee mug and smiled sadly. He didn’t notice the drop in Jaehyun’s expression when the younger boy noticed his hyung’s mood fall.  
  
“Ah..well...we haven’t spoken in a while actually.” Johnny said a little bitterly.  
  
“Wait..what?”  
  
“Yeah it’s been almost two years. It’s okay I guess these things happen. I’ve gotten used to it you know.”  
  
“ _What??_ You two? Haven’t spoken for _two years_ ? That’s crazy! What about social media?” Jaehyun dropped the cloth he was using to dry the dishes on the counter and crossed his arms as he turned fully to look at Johnny.  
  
“He doesn’t have any accounts haha. He’s a national level gymnast so I’m guessing his PR team or manager or coach or whatever advise him not to have one.”  
  
“Dude. It’s 2015. I’m sure he has _some_ kind of secret account somewhere! You’re telling me he hasn’t contacted you or even written to you? Like by post?”  
  
Johnny shrugged defeatedly, “Yep. That’s basically it. It’s really alright though. I’m usually busy and lowkey dying trying to juggle my college stuff and my DJing stuff _and_ other life stuff. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for him as an established athlete you know. It’s weirdly, really difficult to find time to do anything like even think about writing letters now that I’m in college.” Johnny looked at Jaehyun with a weird half smile on his face that Jaehyun disliked immediately, “It really sucks but what can you do. I understand where he’s coming from too.”  
  
“Fuck, that’s fucking awful” Jaehyun said loudly and Johnny hissed, not used to the expletives from the younger boy, “Oh come on hyung I’m 18 already chill! And it is fucking awful that you haven’t spoken. We all thought you two would keep going on even after the Earth had been swallowed up by the Sun or something.”  
  
Johnny laughed and said, “Well, that’s what _we_ thought about you and Taeyong too. Weird isn’t it, the way life works?”  
  
Jaehyun and Johnny shared a sad smile and quietly cleaned up the kitchen. They both went to the living room and talked a bit more about how their parents were doing and other mundane things, trying not to dwell on the things they had discussed in the kitchen until Johnny’s phone buzzed loudly. The two boys jumped at the sudden, alien noise. Both took out their phones and as Johnny checked his messages, Jaehyun’s eyes bugged out of his skull seeing the time.  
  
“Holy shit, I got to go hyung. I still need to speak to the landlord about some stuff today! Fuck it’s already so late!” Jaehyun scrambled for his belongings and dashed to the door. Johnny pocketed his phone and hurried after him.  
  
“Okay dude! Go safely and let me know when you reach your place. Oh right! Give me your number. I’ll text you mine!” Johnny said.  
  
Jaehyun rattled off his number as he tied his shoelaces.  
  
“Hyung, thank you for dinner. Thank you for speaking to me. I know I’ve fucked up a lot and you all have the right to be mad at me. Just...thank you so much.” Jaehyun said at the door and smiled at Johnny with the full force of his dimples and his gratitude shining through his eyes.

“It’s no problem Jaehyun. I’m just glad you’re back. I’m still mad at you. But I’m happy to see you again. Come over whenever okay?” Johnny smiled back at him, reminded of the first time so many years ago that he had seen Jaehyun’s dimples. Back during his basketball days, he thought nostalgically.  
  
Jaehyun reached forward for a quick hug which startled the older boy and said, “I promise I’ll be better this time. I’ll fix my mistakes.” Jaehyun looked at him with fire in his eyes and dashed off. Johnny saw him run down the lane, and onto the footpath on the main road from the open hallway of his floor. Once the younger boy had completely disappeared, Johnny headed back into his studio with a sigh. He changed out of his jeans into his pajamas and ratty sleep shirt and curled up into bed. He opened his phone again and reread his texts for earlier.  
  
**  
** **From: Lee Tyong**

 **[Recieved: 22.15]** **  
** _I don’t feel good Johnny._

 _I really fuckn don’t. Why’d he come back?  
_ _  
_ _  
_ **From: You**

**[Sent: 22.23]**

_Taeyong, it’s going to be okay_ **  
** _Come over tomorrow_

_There’s something we need to talk about  
  
_

**From: Lee Tyong**

**[Recieved: 22.24]** **  
** _K._ _  
  
_

**From: You**

**[Seen: 22.24]** **  
** _Taeyong, go to sleep. Don’t do anything dangerous please._

_It’ll be okay.  
  
_

Johnny shot off a quick text to Doyoung telling him to keep an eye on Taeyong for the night, just in case. The two boys stayed on the other side of their district and Johnny wasn’t in the state to go and take care of Taeyong because of the surprise reunion he’d had with the very reason for Taeyong’s distress (on the day that he was massively hungover nonetheless). His phone buzzed with an affirmative from Doyoung and a text saying that Taeyong was definitely in his room, that he had checked that it wasn’t pillows and that he would keep watch. Johnny breathed out a sigh of relief and thanked the based gods for Kim Dongyoung who acted like a dry, sarcastic meanie but had a heart of complete gold. He was deleting a bunch of texts from his hookups asking him if he was free and scrolling mindlessly through twitter and instagram until his eyes started burning.

He had blocked news about Ten shortly after they had stopped speaking because he didn’t want to know anything that the paparazzi or his ‘fansites’ or whoever knew. He claimed it was because all of them skewed his character into some god of gymnastics or some semi-celebrity athlete and that weirded him out too much. But he knew, and everyone else knew that it was mostly because it hurt too much to find out things about someone you claimed as your best friend from a third party and reading articles that glorified him and put him on a pedestal just made him seem even more distant and far away than he was. Johnny sighed and rolled over and pulled out a picture of Ten that he had saved, from a few years ago on the winning podium at some contest. The boy was glowing with pride and happiness in the photo and Johnny felt his heart ache as he looked at the photo on his phone. That was the latest one he had. None of his friends had bothered keeping up with Ten either knowing how it hurt Johnny. The older boy laughed quietly at how his and Taeyong’s situations were sort of similar. ‘ _Hashtag Just Best Friend Things_ ’ he thought to himself. He locked the screen and was about to put his phone away when it lit up with another message notification.  
  
  
**From: Jung Jaehyun**

 **[Received: 00.16]** **  
** _Hey hyung. Thanks for today and for believing in me when I said_

_I wanted to fix it. I’ll make it up to you all._

_Goodnight :)  
_ _  
_ _  
_ Johnny smiled and sent a sleepy emoji and a quick goodnight text to the younger boy and put his phone on his bedside table. The only difference between his situation and Taeyong’s was that now, Taeyong’s had a chance to be fixed. His? It was going to stay the way it was, like the sealed box of letters from Ten that was gathering dust that he had stashed away in the back of his closet. Johnny forced his brain to stop thinking of melodramatic BS, closed his eyes and welcomed the embrace of sweet, sweet oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaaah!! BOI! Angsticles!  
> Okay so age count Intl age/Korean age:  
> Taeyong and Johnny are 19/20, Taeil is 20/21, Jaehyun is 17/18, Jungwoo is 16/17, Mark is 15/16.  
> No underage drinking in my house!  
> I also had written that Mark was a senior in the previous chapter but I edited it to junior. Jungwoo's the senior so he's studying for college entrances. Sorry, I forget ages sometimes. I also don't know Korean or American school systems properly so I'm just loosely basing it off of both. Just roll with it :)  
> Also, for those confused about the general time line, don't worry, I am too. But basically the time skip happens around 10 months after Ten leaves Korea. So if Ten had visited in, say November, Jaehyun left in September, the next year. And that's roughly where the time skip happens. It doesn't take place immediately after Ten's departure! I hope that's helpful??  
> PSA: This chapter has been uploaded at 3am after a bout of insomnia writing. So if there are errors, please point them out and I will edit them ASAP!  
> Thank you for all the love and support! Your comments and thoughts make me very happy <3
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	14. Chapter 14

School was going to re-open in three days and Johnny had not signed up for a couple of classes that would help him with his credits on time. As a result he had been running around from his studio to campus trying to gather the paperwork his professors requested to consider him for their classes. He hated everything and just wanted to go back four days and listen to Taeil and Doyoung’s advice and sign up for his stupid classes on time. _‘Fucking past Johnny’_ ,  Johnny thought as he rushed out of the university gates towards the nearby cafe for a quick bite before he had to rush back and finish off some more paperwork before the offices closed for the day.

He threw open the cafe door and the bell by the door chimed happily, announcing his arrival. He bent over trying to catch his breath from all of his rushing around and saw a pair of sneakers approaching him. Johnny straightened up and greeted the owner of the sneakers with a grin.  
  
“Yo Lucas!”  
  
“Hey hyung! What’s up you look dead on your feet.”  
  
“Nah just the bureaucracy of my school getting on my ass for not signing up for classes on time,” Johnny said as Lucas led him to an empty table by the window, “How’s the job?”  
  
“Eh, it’s all good man! I’m getting used to it. Classes are a pain but Mark’s been helping me out.”  
  
Lucas, otherwise known as Wong Yukhei or Xuxi, was a transfer student from China. He’d transferred to the same school as Mark and stayed in Johnny’s building with his family. The older boy had decided to take the younger one under his wing when he saw him struggle while speaking to the landlord. The boy had looked completely lost at the rapid fire Korean that the old landlord was spouting off with increasing irritation because Lucas wasn’t able to understand anything. The tall boy had almost folded in half from the angry yelling when Johnny had (luckily) walked up the stairs onto their floor and stepped in and diffused the situation. Lucas had looked at Johnny with so much gratitude in his eyes that Johnny’s heart had melted on the spot and he had told the younger boy to ask him if he ever needed anything. After that day, Johnny had been invited to Lucas’s house for lunch, met the family and developed a bro-ship with the tall Chinese boy. He had introduced him to Mark when he had told him the name of his school and the two boys had become fast friends. Johnny had also helped Lucas find the part time job he was working at now when the younger boy had asked him if he knew anyone who needed a handsome, hardworking and enthusiastic worker. Johnny was glad to hear from Yuta, a longtime employee of the same cafe that that their sales had gone up significantly thanks to Lucas’s handsome face.  
  
Johnny ordered his usual and opened his bag to sift through the last few documents that he needed to turn in. He was pleasantly surprised that the university was being so accommodating with his classes when he had heard how awful they could be about late sign-ups and stuff like that but he guessed he owed it to his above average grades and good rapport with the professors. And also Taeil for telling him to always stay in their good graces and practically lick their asses if he had to so that they would treat you well in case of an emergency such as the one he was going through. Johnny leaned back in his chair and looked out the window. He liked watching people walk by, all busy and involved with their own lives. He wondered where everyone was rushing off to and amused himself by making up backstories about them. Suddenly someone threw themselves down on the chair opposite his and Johnny was startled out of his reverie.  
  
"Oh. Taeyong."  
  
“Hey.”  
  
“Hey...” Johnny replied cautiously.

Taeyong sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair.  
  
“Look I’m sorry I disappeared again okay. I just couldn’t take the fact that you _let Jaehyun into your house._ ”  
  
Johnny looked at Taeyong skeptically, giving him a once over as per usual just to check if he was sporting any injuries. When he saw that the other boy was fine and had no bruises or cuts, he sat up straight.  
  
“Look I know it was difficult for you to understand, but Jaehyun’s a friend okay. A terrible one...but he’s still my friend. As his hyung, what was I supposed to do when I saw him having what looked like a panic attack right in the middle of the grocery store when I mentioned you?”  
  
“ _Walk away_ maybe?? And you’re not his _hyung,_ ” Taeyong leaned on the table and snarled at Johnny who stared at him unflinching, “He gave up the right to call any of us that years ago.”  
  
Johnny looked at Taeyong silently. Looked at his blazing eyes and past the anger and saw the hurt there. Taeyong had gone over to his place the day after Jaehyun had visited and Johnny had told him briefly about meeting the younger boy and how he was going to go to their university (keeping out the stuff that he had said about making things better because he knew it would set Taeyong off) and Taeyong had gotten up without a word once Johnny had finished speaking and walked out of his studio with a look of betrayal and anger on his handsome face. Johnny knew that it had been the right thing to do tell Taeyong that he had met up with Jaehyun before the silver haired boy found out from a third party and gotten even angrier. To no one’s surprise, Taeyong hadn’t contacted him for two weeks, despite Johnny and the others trying to reach him. Whenever Taeyong was in his moods, no one knew what he would get up to and it scared them all.

Johnny sighed, “Look, he’s still a kid. He said he’s sorry about what happened and I’m pretty sure he had no choice in any of this okay? I couldn’t walk away and I never would if someone I knew was in trouble," Johnny took a breath and looked at Taeyong, "And neither would you.”  
  
“Don’t talk like you know me Johnny. If it was him, I’d walk away. I don’t care what happens to him. He says he’s _sorry?_ Like being sorry is going to make any difference. He can shove his apologies up his ass,” Taeyong scoffed and looked away, “And of course he had no choice in coming back and choosing this university. He never has any choices does he.”  
  
Johnny ran a frustrated hand through his hair just as Lucas came back and placed his order on the table. The taller boy looked between the two occupants of the table, noticed the tense atmosphere and was about to hurry away when Taeyong’s sharp voice cut off his escape.  
  
“Hey, get me a chocolate smoothie and add some extra whipped cream to it. And get me a caramel pudding too.”  
  
Lucas stared wide eyed at Taeyong, probably shocked at the order of sweets coming from a guy who looked like he ate chilies for a living and drank black coffee like water before nodding and jotting down the order and hurrying off. Johnny smiled a little around his sandwich and took a sip of his coffee.  
  
“Shut up Johnny I can see you.”  
  
“What! I didn’t say anything!” Johnny huffed indignantly and put a piece of his sandwich on Taeyong’s plate.  
  
“I can see you smiling you jackass.”  
  
“I’m sorry it’s just...amusing that you still can’t drink coffee or handle spicy stuff. It kinda breaks the...image?” Johnny ended as a question, unsure of how many jibes Taeyong could take.  
  
“Listen, that shit is disgusting okay. And I don’t need to eat spicy stuff or drink coffee to be able to beat the crap outta someone if I wanted to.” Taeyong said as he bit into the sandwich.  
  
Johnny nodded and proceeded to finish his lunch. The two of them sat in slightly uncomfortable silence until Lucas placed Taeyong’s order on the table. Taeyong practically inhaled his smoothie and pudding before Johnny had finished off his sandwich and coffee. Johnny gaped at the silver haired boy who simply shrugged in response. Lucas walked back to their table when he saw that their plates were empty and smiled politely.  
  
“Will you need anything else?” He said as he picked up the plates and arranged them in a neat stack in his hand. The two boys shook their heads and asked for the bill. The Chinese boy walked back towards the counter, carefully balancing the plates in his hand. Taeyong watched him walk away before turning to the boy sitting opposite him.  
  
“What are you doing here Johnny? Classes don’t even start until Monday.”  
  
“Oh..haha...I sort of..forgot to sign up for some of my classes? So I’ve basically been on campus the whole day begging the professors to take me in.”  
  
“Didn’t you get Taeil and Doyoung’s obnoxious reminders?”  
  
“Uh..perhaps?”  
  
“You’re so stupid how do you survive alone?”  
  
“You’re one to talk!” Johnny shot back with a smirk and Taeyong smiled hesitantly back at him.  
  
Lucas came back and they paid their bills (Taeyong insisted on getting his separate from Johnny’s). Johnny waved goodbye to Lucas and told him to come over some evening to play the new games that he had recently gotten a hold of. Taeyong stared between the two and followed Johnny as he picked up his backpack and reached the door.  
  
“You two dating?” Taeyong asked flatly as soon as they stepped out of the cafe.  
  
“ _WHAT?”_ Johnny yelled in shock.  
  
Taeyong blinked at him and repeated his question to Johnny who rubbed at his face tiredly.  
  
“Dude, Taeyong, stick to your fancy business degree and what not okay? Please. Lucas stays in my building. He’s a kid.”  
  
“Ah..I just thought-”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Well, you’re both tall…”  
  
Johnny burst out laughing at that and his eyes started watering from laughing too hard. He had to sit down on the pavement when his legs gave out. “T-Taeyong..hahahah!! _Please_! This is why we love you, you’re _such_ a dummy!” He said between guffaws.  
  
“Shut the fuck up Johnny. Get up the streets are dirty… Fuckin’ idiot.” Taeyong said angrily but his red neck revealed that he was embarrassed and Johnny felt like cooing at his friend. And he did and got hit across the shoulder by an angry Taeyong. Johnny liked it when Taeyong was in a good mood. He enjoyed it when he could joke with the other boy and tease him without fear of him flying off the handle. He pushed himself off of the ground and hefted his backpack on his shoulders and the two of them started walking back to their campus.  
  
“Wait why are you coming with me?” Johnny asked Taeyong.  
  
“I’ve got nothing better to do.”  
  
“Oh so it’s not because you forgot to sign up for some classes too?” Johnny teased.  
  
Taeyong looked at him sharply, “No asshole, I signed up for mine way before I even got those stupid reminders. I always make sure my college shit is on track and you, of all people know that. I got people to pay back.”  
  
Johnny held Taeyong’s gaze and nodded. He knew about Taeyong’s situation back home. Or as much as the other boy had told him. He knew how hard his older sister and parents worked to make sure that he got through college properly. They had been through a lot over the past few years with Taeyong’s parents almost separating and his sister moving away for work, leaving Taeyong in the house to handle the deterioration and slow fall out of his parents. Taeyong didn’t blame his sister, Johnny knew that he understood that she needed to move away to help with their family’s financial situation. But the emotional upheavals that the other boy had faced at home had hardened him. Johnny didn’t know the full extent of what happened. Why Taeyong’s parents suddenly started fighting and why they almost separated, but he and Taeil had tried their hardest to be there for the other boy. Even if he started shutting them out. Taeyong had been the one to suggest on going to the same university as Johnny and Taeil to study business. And his parents and sister had agreed that it would be better for Taeyong to be around Johnny and Taeil even when he went to university and had let him enroll. So that the other two would continue to keep an eye on him, they’d said. Taeyong’s parents had been busy rebuilding their marriage for the past few years. As a result, most of the responsibilities fell on his older sister who also kept sending money regularly for his tuition fees. For this reason, Taeyong knew it was his responsibility to make sure that he got his degree and got a job and paid back everyone he owed. He’d also taken up a part time job at a library during the days and spent the nights doing what looked to Johnny like mild gang activities, if the bruises and cuts and stuff were anything to go by. The two jobs, if the second one could be called that, had paid him enough to stay afloat and to everyone’s surprise, Taeyong had won a scholarship for their second year, which allowed him to stay for free in the honor roll student house with Doyoung. Taeyong was trying to lessen the burden on his family as much as he could and the taller boy knew that being irresponsible about his education was not going to help that cause in any way. So he nodded at Taeyong and the two walked into campus in silence, a sour expression on Taeyong’s face. Johnny hated it when this happened. When something he said or did that was practically insignificant set Taeyong off and he closed himself off. The silences during such times were incredibly uncomfortable and Johnny wished they could go back in time a minute or so so that he could slap past Johnny’s mouth shut before he teased Taeyong about the college classes. They walked deeper into their enormous campus in total silence and Johnny fidgeting subtly with the pocket of his jeans.  
  
“Alright I need to go speak to the admin folk. It might take me a while so..uh..what will you do?” Johnny turned to look at Taeyong as they reached the main office building.  
  
Taeyong looked from Johnny to the practically empty campus and said, “I’ll just hang around here I guess.”

He took out a pack of smokes and settled down by a pot of flowers. Johnny looked at him and shook his head slightly.  
  
“Dude if you’re caught smoking on campus…” He began cautiously.  
  
“Chill I’ve done it before and lots of other kids smoke here. So do the professors. I’ve smoked up with Mrs Lim once. Plus the whole place is empty except for the skeleton admin staff. No one’s going to bust my ass.” Taeyong said lighting up his smoke.  
  
Johnny shrugged in an _‘If you say so’_ way and walked into the building. What followed was almost two hours of paperwork torture and unnecessary bowing in apology to the admin people. He was also made to call his professors for confirmations even after he turned in the printouts of their emails saying they’ve agreed to take him into their classes and by the end of it, Johnny was going to break someone’s neck. Either his or the dead-eyed admin dude’s. He didn’t know which one yet. Johnny walked out of the office with a sore back from standing and bowing and a mild headache from being forced to deal with the staff politely even though he was _this close_ to screaming in frustration. Johnny walked to where he expected Taeyong to be and saw the other boy smoking what looked like his fourth cigarette and running his fingers over the knuckles of his hand. Which, to Johnny’s dismay looked redder and more bruised than they had been two hours ago.  
  
“What the fuck happened?” Johnny asked Taeyong when he walked over to him and got a clearer look at the other boy’s hands.  
  
“Oh this? Nothing.” Taeyong answered him shortly. His eyes were red too, Johnny noticed. He got up and spat out his cigarette, crushed it under his sneaker and gave Johnny a look which said very clearly to not prod any further.  
  
Johnny frowned and for the first time in a long time, went against his instinct to just shut the fuck up when it came to Taeyong being closed off and said, “No Taeyong talk to me. What happened?”  
  
“Just let it go Johnny! Fuck! A mosquito sat on my hand and I slapped it away!” Taeyong looked at Johnny with annoyance burning in his eyes.  
  
“Fine,” Johnny decided he was too tired to argue with the other boy and that he just wanted to go home and sleep, “Do you need me to help you patch that up?” He glanced again at Taeyong’s knuckles, which looked like they would sting a lot in a few hours.  
  
“No. Just. Forget it okay? It’s fine.” Taeyong said with a sigh.  
  
“Alright. Well...I’m done with my stuff here. I got into my classes  and I think I’m going to go home now.”  
  
Taeyong nodded at him and said, “‘Kay I’m going to go the other way. See ya later.”  
  
“Okay… see you Taeyong.” Johnny said, forcing himself to not think about where the other boy might be going and forcing himself to not sound too sad as Taeyong walked away.  
  
Johnny shrugged on his backpack, shot a text to Doyoung and Taeil saying he’d met Taeyong and that he’s probably going to do something stupid since he looked like he was in a bad mood when they parted.  
  
**Chatroom members:Youngod, Tell, You**  
**  
From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 17.15]  
** Scale?  
  
**From: You** **  
** **[Received: 17.15]** **  
** 4/10..?  
I think?  
  
**From: Youngod, Tell** **  
** **[Received: 17.16]** **  
** Got it  
  
**From: Tell** **  
** **[Received: 17.16]**  
We’ll be on the lookout  
  
**From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 17.16]  
** I’ll keep the first aid kit out.  
Sigh.  
  
**From: You  
** **[Received: 17.17]** **  
** Thanks guys  
Stfu Doyoung we all kno ur just as worried abt him as us  
  
**From: Youngod** **  
** **[Received: 17.18]  
** Doesn’t make it any less annoying!

 **From: Tell** **  
** **[Received: 17.18]** **  
** Both of you stfu!!!!  
Johnny dont worry about it  
We got this.  
  
**From: You  
** **[Received: 17.19]  
** Thank  
  
**From: Youngod** **  
** **[Received: 17.20]** **  
** Bitch  
  
**From: You** **  
** **[Received: 17.20]  
** Hoe  
  
**From: Tell** **  
** **[Received: 17.21]** **  
** Oh my god im leaving  
  
Johnny reached the bus stop and smiled as he clicked his phone off. Doyoung was such a see through _tsundere_ , a word that Yuta had taught him, one time he’d gone to the cafe. Johnny rode the bus all the way home quietly, still mulling over what happened with Taeyong at the university. He hated how the other boy’s violent behavior kept sticking in his head. He was a fully grown adult and could clearly handle himself so why did Johnny have to keep worrying after him along with Doyoung, Taeil (and Winwin by extension). He guessed it was because Taeyong, for all of his erratic behaviour was still one of his best friends and he loved the other boy too much to ignore him, even though he behaved like he needed no one. To try to get himself to relax, he listened to some music and napped for a couple minutes before he reached his stop. When he got off, it was already dark and the lights had come on. He loved his neighborhood during the night. Everything looked extra romantic and whimsical and he wished he had someone to walk with or just spend time with. Someone nice and cute with a pretty smile and-  
  
At that point Johnny decided quickly that that was mental territory he didn’t want to go into and that it would be best to buy some alcohol, drink a bit, maybe hit someone up for a booty call. To prevent him from spiralling into his pit of loneliness and despair. His vow of ‘celibacy’ be damned. Johnny scoffed at what a dramatic bitch he was being, breaking his all important vow which he’d maintained for a month and a half, all because of street lights. Yuta, Winwin and Doyoung were going to laugh at him. The fuckers hadn’t believed that he’d be able to keep it in his pants until school started (Taeil, bless his soul, had). Because when school starts he barely gets time to sleep let alone _with_ someone. Johnny walked into the grocery store, waved at Jungwoo who gave him a cute little salute and walked out with a bag full of alcohol and snacks.

When he got out, he turned and saw a slumped figure on the table outside. The slumped figure turned it’s head and Johnny realised with a shock that it was Jaehyun. Except Jaehyun had a split lip and a bruised eye. Johnny hurried over to the table, put his bag down and dragged a chair to sit directly in front of Jaehyun. He then proceeded to carefully turn the other boy’s head to investigate the damage.  
  
“Hey hyung,” Jaehyun started before hissing in pain at the split in his lip, “We gotta stop meeting at the grocery store.”  
  
“What the fuck happened to you?” Johnny looked at him sternly.  
  
“Nothing…” Jaehyun looked away.  
  
“Oh so you just magically happened to develop a bruise and a split lip?”

“I’d gone to campus today to get some of my pre-college credits transferred. And Taeyong hyung was there.”  
  
Johnny’s blood froze in his veins. _‘Oh...fucking fuuuck’_ Johnny thought as his brain quickly put two and two together. ‘ _Fucking Taeyong’_ Johnny’s mind raced as he recalled Taeyong’s red eyes and bruised knuckles. The older boy quickly took out a can of cold beer and pressed it into Jaehyun’s hand.  
  
“Yeah…It’s okay though hyung, I deserve this. And more,” The younger boy chucked while he took the can and nursed it gently against his eye, “Um..thanks for this.”  
  
“Shut up Jaehyun you don’t need to thank me. I’m gonna go get some meds. Don’t go anywhere.”  
  
“I won’t.”  
  
Johnny walked back into the grocery store and went straight to the medicine racks. He bought some ointment, cotton swabs, a pack of bandaids and some general painkillers and a cooling pad for the bruise and cut. Johnny held everything in one hand while typing out a quick text to Doyoung and Taeil saying that it’s best to make sure Taeyong’s close by since it’s probably more like an 8/10 situation. Doyoung and Taeil replied with thumbs up emojis and Johnny clicked his phone off as he went to the counter to pay. Jungwoo rang up his total and threw in a piece of candy ‘ _For that sad hyung outside. My mom always gave me a candy when I was feeling down. Maybe it’ll help.’_ Johnny thanked Jungwoo and told him not to worry. The younger boy nodded and started helping the next customer with their bill. Johnny dumped all of the things he had bought on the table and quickly disinfected and ointment-ed and bandaid-ed Jaehyun’s face. The younger boy smiled weakly in thanks as Johnny took the now room temperature can of beer from Jaehyun’s hand and exchanged it for the cooling pad. He then leaned back and crossed his arm and looked at the boy opposite him expectantly. When, Johnny wondered to himself, had he turned into the parent figure of their friends circle. He was extremely annoyed at Taeyong for not telling him that he’d seen Jaehyun and had closed him off again (as usual). He was getting angrier by the minute so he mentally said the alphabet backwards to help himself chill the fuck out. He raised an eyebrow at Jaehyun and the other boy coughed softly.  
  
“Uh...so I met Taeyong hyung...”  
  
“I gathered.”  
  
“He kinda..hit me. More than once.”  
  
Johnny didn’t say anything but he cursed Taeyong’s habit of not telling him anything with every breath he took.  
  
“I saw him and he saw me and I waved at him a little. He kept staring and I approached him and then I said hi and then he got up and gave me this,” He pointed to the cut in his lip.  
  
Johnny stayed silent.  
  
“Uhm and then I’d sort of fallen over and I like...yelled. In reaction! And then he just got on top of me and hit me again a couple times, without a word. That’s how I got the bruise.”  
  
“Oooh shit.” Johnny drew out the oh and Jaehyun smiled weakly.  
  
“Then I don’t know, he just stopped all of a sudden, got up and told me to leave. Before he went too far. And then I got up and ran and came here. Had some ramyeon because I didn’t want to go home too early,” Jaehyun pointed at the carton of ramyeon sitting on the table beside Johnny’s bag, “That’s the first thing he’s said to me in three years hyung.” The other boy whispered.  
  
‘ _Ah fuck god fucking dammit I just wanted to drink and get laid what the fuck.’_ Johnny thought to himself.

“He looked so different hyung. But he still looked the same. Does that make any sense?” Jaehyun asked the older boy.  
  
“Yeah. He’s changed a lot.”  
  
Jaehyun nodded,”He looks so much older and...and sadder. And the silver hair...He looks so dangerous,” He chucked, “But he’s still so..beautiful. Like an old painting,” Jaehyun sighed and looked at Johnny with determination burning in his eyes, “Anyways, I can fix this hyung. I’m sure.”  
  
“What makes you say that?”

“Well..the fact that he stopped today, before it went too far and-”  
  
“That could have just been him not wanting to commit a crime?” _Again_ Johnny thought but didn’t say out loud.  
  
“No. I saw his eyes. That wasn’t the look of someone who wanted to really hurt someone. He’s angry and hurt and all of the things I did pushed him to be like this. But I can fix it. I know it.”  
  
Johnny looked at Jaehyun carefully. Gangly, round faced Jaehyun who had grown into the broad, chiselled young man before him. He looked at the fire in Jaehyun’s eyes and sighed in defeat.  
  
“I’ve already told you. It’s not going to be-”  
  
“-Easy. I know hyung. I know it’s not like this split lip. Apply some ointment and a bandaid and voila all done! I know it’s going to take work and I’m not hoping to magically heal him with my presence or whatever but I am determined to apologise for my mistakes and make right as many of my wrongs as I can. He’s worth that much and I owe it to him.”  
  
Johnny sighed again and agreed with Jaehyun, too tired to discuss this any further. He gave the younger boy the piece of candy that Jungwoo had given for him and Jaehyun’s face lit up for a moment. _‘He’s still a kid…’_ Johnny thought to himself. The two boys talked for a while longer before Jaehyun got up to leave. He waved the older boy goodbye and limped away, Johnny realising with a start that Taeyong had really not gone as easy on the younger boy as he had made it out to be. Johnny leaned back on his chair and exhaled tiredly. He got up started strolling down towards his studio. Once he reached home, he dumped his alcohol bag on the coffee table and plonked himself face down on his couch. After a few minutes of lying facedown on the couch like a dead fish, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked through the contacts list. He needed some stress relief but the whole day had left him too tired to even consider any more physical activity. So he pulled his coffee table closer, pushed himself to half seated, shucked off his pants and coat and switched Netflix on the TV. He then proceeded to wipe off all of the alcohol he’d bought as he watched some dumb romcom about true love and destiny or something. After binging on everything that was in his fridge and in his snacks bag in a drunken haze, he pushed himself off the couch and somehow got himself into bed where he fell into a dreamless sleep.  
  
~~  
  
Johnny woke up with a start, a telltale headache forming and a disgusting taste in his mouth. He groaned and pulled his blanket closer to his body. He needed to adopt better coping methods than drowning himself in alcohol whenever he got too stressed. Maybe something like rollerblading or jogging or stamp collecting (he’d heard from somewhere getting the stamps off of the envelopes required a lot of focus and that your mind went quiet when you were doing that task). He rolled himself into a blanket burrito and brushed his teeth and showered quickly, the stuffiness of the bathroom getting too much for his hungover mind. He then made some stir fried noodles and tea (to detox) and padded to his couch. He found his cellphone lodged between the cushions and unlocked it to a bunch of notifications.  
  
**Chatroom members:Youngod, Tell, You  
**  
**From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 23.15]** **  
** Taeyong’s home. That’s weird.  
  
**From: Tell** **  
** **[Received: 23.15]** **  
** Wot  
Is he ok?  
  
**From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 23.15]** **  
** Uhm...his hands are a bit bruised up and he stinks of alcohol and weed but he’s..ok?  
I’ve left the kit and some other shit on the table he’ll help himself to it.  
  
**From: Tell  
** **[Received: 23.16]** **  
** Alright.  
Winwin says to leave some aloe vera gel if you have any too.  
  
**From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 23.16]** **  
** Nah I don’t have that but I’ve left some coolant gel.  
Chill Winwin.  
Anyways..where’s Johnny?  
  
**From: Tell  
** **[Received: 23.17]** **  
** Idk johnny? U there?  
  
**From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 23.17]** **  
** Hey Captain bitch you there??

  
**From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 23.20]** **  
** He’s meditating.  
He’s died.  
Makes us do all the hard work and goes off to die all by himself.  
  
**From: Tell** **  
** **[Received: 23.20]** **  
** Doyoung, u need to get laid.  
Also you’re not supposed to do the whole meme by yourself.  
  
**From: Youngod  
****[Received: 23.20]** **  
** I know  
fuck off  
go suck Winwin’s dick  
  
**From: Tell  
** **[Received: 23.20]** **  
** You don’t need to tell me that~  
  
**From: Youngod  
****[Received: 23.30]** **  
** Oh gross bye.  
Anyways, TY is ok..? He’s in bed out like a light I just checked.  
I’m going to bed too.  
  
**From: You  
****[Received: 10.32]** **  
** Hey bitches I’m alive.  
Doyoung, ur a hoe  
im glad to hear TY’s ok  
Also, Taeil hyung.  
ew  
  
**From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 10.32]** **  
** Dammit  
She lives.  
  
**From: Tell  
** **[Received: 10.40]** **  
** Morning sunshine!  
Hyung slept v well huhu  
<3 Winwin <3  
  
**From: You  
** **[Received: 10.40]**  
Gross  
  
**From: Youngod  
****[Received: 10.40]**  
Gross.  
  
**From: You  
** **[Received: 10.42]**  
Aaaanyways, lemme know what happens with TY  
I’m gonna go work for a bit  
Later y’all  
  
**From: Youngod  
** **[Received: 10.43]**  
Alright  
  
**From: Tell  
** **[Received: 10.43]**  
Okay, work hard!  
  
Johnny swiped out of the chat window and muted it so that no one would be able to bother him for the next couple of hours. He checked his call history and saw a couple of missed calls from an unknown number and decided it was probably some spam shit from his bank or something and closed the call history window. He had to contact his bank people to tell them to stop contacting him with spam offers he’d rejected a thousand times before. He typed out a quick text to his mom, giving her an update on his living conditions and telling her that he’d been accepted to all of his classes. Johnny then locked his phone and finished off his meal in a tranquil, technology free silence. After he cleaned up the kitchen, he pulled out his laptop to start mixing some tracks. But as he was working, the thought that Taeyong, temperamental, always taking his frustrations out by fighting some lowlifes in Seoul’s sleazy corners Taeyong, had gone back home quietly after meeting Jaehyun for the first time in years kept bothering him. It was weird and out of place and made his stomach churn uneasily. He pushed that feeling down and put his headphones on because he needed to get at least three new tracks down in two weeks or he would fall back and not have good songs to perform on his next few gigs. The headphones blocked out all of the sounds from the outside world and the only thing he could hear was the beat and the melodies of the three songs he was working on.  
  
By the time he was done, it was late afternoon and his eyes were burning from staring at his screen. His head was also hurting from the sounds he was working on and he decided that he needed a nap. Johnny woke up five hours later with a grumbling stomach, looked in the fridge to find it empty and ordered chicken. The thought of greasy, comfort food made him sigh in happiness. He called up the delivery service and told them to leave the box in front of his doorstep as he’d paid by card and pulled his coat on, grabbed his phone and keys to go take a walk. Johnny strolled down his lane to his favorite book store, an old place run by an old couple who kept tapes and records in the back that they let Johnny access as a special service because he helped them out with chores and the shop whenever he had time. He loved the smell of the place. It was a bit cramped and it was a bit messy, but everyone who came to the store knew that that’s what made it special. The old couple, Mr and Mrs Han greeted him happily and he made some pleasant small talk with them for a while. Talking to them made Johnny feel like not everything was lost in this world. The two had gotten married, out of love, in their twenties and were now in their late seventies and were still together. Still in love and still doing the things that they loved like managing the book store and travelling from time to time. After speaking to them for a while, Johnny migrated to the fiction shelf and rummaged through the books to find some titles that looked interesting. As he was reading the synopsis of one of the books, his phone rang in his pocket.  
  
“Hello?”  
  
“...”  
  
“Hello??” Johnny looked at the phone number, thinking it was Yuta or Mark trying to prank him. It was an unknown number and Johnny’s neck prickled in irritation.  
  
“Hello? Look if this is someone from the bank calling please update your damn system. I’ve told you many times that I am _not_ interested in a new credit card or a loan or an investment or whatever. Please stop calling me.”  
  
“...”  
  
“Please update your systems this is getting ridicu-”  
  
Suddenly the call got dropped and Johnny shrugged thinking that the bank people had finally come to the massive realisation that he really was not interested in their schemes. He selected a few books and went to the counter to pay. He smiled pleasantly at the two old people and wished them a pleasant evening and went back to his house. His plan was to eat his chicken, read his books and survive on deliveries for a day or two so that he wouldn’t have to leave the comfort of his home until school opened. It was a good, solid plan, Johnny thought to himself happily. He skipped home lightly with plans of lazing around, binging some Netflix shows and not being a productive human for the last few days before hell on earth -otherwise known as the education system- descended upon him, making his footsteps a little bit lighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am. So. Sorry.  
> I'm so incredibly late again...I hope this fic is still worth reading and the delays aren't getting too annoying for you all.  
> Anyways! We hit a 100+ pages on this trainwreck of a fic (on the .doc I mean)!! Woohooo!! Party time!!  
> It's a lot of fun writing angsty Jaeyong heheh I hope it's not too irritating that there's been like..almost no Johnten in the recent chapters. I've also realised I've made Johnny out to be like an agony aunt with a sad life but don't worry my friends, big things are coming for our favorite big boi!  
> As usual, this chapter has been uploaded at 3am after a fevered bout of writing. If you spot any errors, please do point them out!  
> Also, the education system is WHACK and fictional so just please roll with whatever crap I'm writing about college!  
> I hope you're all doing good and if you're not I hope you do something that makes you feel good!
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	15. ANNOUNCEMENT

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NOT A CHAPTER
> 
> WILL BE DELETED LATER

Hello dear readers!

It's me, Rai, the author.

I'm sure you're all really upset that I haven't updated in almost a month even though I said that the fic will not go on hiatus.

I'm so!! SO sorry. I've shifted to a different country to continue my studies and I've been trying to get an internet connection set up, but it's not going to come in for another week or two. Unfortunately my whole fic is on my Google Drive and I can't access it and write/edit it at all because I need my computer to do that. I could do it on my phone but it will be way too exhausted typing a whole chapter like that. And the outcome of me typing like that won't be good quality content!

I'm truly sorry for the delay but please be sure that I'll be back really soon with a bunch of chapters with less delay once I have everything set up in my new home.

Thank you so much for having read Signed, Your's so far and for supporting this fic with your comments and likes. I really, truly appreciate them. I love you all and please don't worry this fic is my baby and it has not been abandoned and won't be abandoned ever.

Please be a bit more patient so that I can upload a really great chapter!

-Rai 01102018

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be deleted once I've updated!


	16. Chapter 16

First day of classes can either go one of two ways. Either the professor decides to be a hard-ass and gives you a shit ton of assignments just to put you in your place. Or the professor decides that it’s important to instill in the students the seriousness of studies and how stressful the semester is going to be and so on with a lecture and ends it with a round of introductions for the new students. Of course, these two scenarios change with every class and Johnny had gone through both versions several times throughout his first day back while attending all of his five requirement and three optional classes at his university. The classes he shared with Taeyong or Yuta were less mundane as he had someone to share eyerolls or groans with, but the rest of the classes had almost put him to sleep or stressed him out to the point of pulling on his hair (he’d already gotten four assignments to be handed in by the end of the week by the aforementioned hard-ass professors and he mentally kissed his musical ventures goodbye for a short while to focus instead on psychology and literature.

Johnny walked out of his last class before lunch break and saw that the various clubs in their university had put up sign up stalls ranging from horrifyingly lazily put together or loud and obnoxious or immaculately well thought out. He sighed at the guy from Biology club sitting slumped in a way that would make his Asian mom smack him across the head, at his plastic table with an A4 paper with the words ‘Biology Club: It Be Good’ scribbled hastily across it. He walked past the other tables with current members screaming their lungs out at freshmen who were scurrying past to ‘ _JOIN OUR CLUB!!!IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!! GIVE IT A TRY!!!’_ He looked at the football club’s surprisingly well planned out and nicely arranged table and waved to Yuta (who had been promoted to Vice Captain this year). Yuta always knew how to make people comfortable and since he’d joined the football team, their registrations had gone up every semester and the fact that he was always smiling politely and not roaring in the freshmen’s faces like the other team members probably helped people see them as more approachable as well. He truly was their university’s prince from Japan. Johnny made some small talk with the other boy until he saw Taeil waving him over from near the gate. He waved back and gestured the other boy to wait.  
  
He turned to Yuta and said, “Hey Yuta, you want to join us for lunch? Taeil-hyung and I are going to grab some food together.”  
  
“Oh yeah! Sure, I was gonna go for lunch too. I’ll be right out. Just gimme a minute to get someone to switch with me.”  
  
“Sure, then Taeil-hyung and I will wait for you outside the gate?”  
  
“Mm-hmm!  
  
Yuta ran off in the direction of the building and Johnny strolled towards the gate. He hefted his- already heavy from new assignments- bag and smiled at Taeil who seemed to have a frown on his face. Johnny started walking quicker to him. The usually composed Taeil was tapping his foot and biting his thumb and Johnny couldn’t understand why so he asked.  
  
“Hey hyung! What’s up?”  
  
“Oh nothing...uh-” He searched Johnny’s face for a minute. Johnny raised an eyebrow when Taeil away and scanned the crowd coming out of the building, “Doyoung might be coming for lunch too. That’s okay right?” Taeil asked in a low, distracted voice.  
  
Johnny laughed and said, “Of course it’s okay but what’s got your panties in such a twist? Oh yeah and Yuta’s coming as well.” Johnny tacked on at the end.  
  
“Uh..sure. Yeah okay. Whatever...” Taeil’s eyes kept darting towards the freshmen flocking at the club tables and Johnny, not being able to contain his curiosity looked over his shoulder before turning around completely to try and spot what was distracting his friend so much.  
  
“What are you even looking a-” Johnny began but when his eyes landed on Jaehyun walking and inspecting the club tables, he breathed out and turned back to Taeil with a reassuring smile, “Hyung, if it’s about Jaehyun, it’s okay. I asked Taeyong and Jaehyun and almost none of their classes match up and whichever ones do, they’re the huge ones with like over 100 students. Plus Jaehyun’s said he’s going to stay out of Taeyong’s way. Especially after the other day.”  
  
Taeil’s eyes landed on him and he stopped biting his thumb. “ Oh okay that’s great and all bu-” he began to say and got cut off just as Yuta bounded over to them, a bit red in the face.  
  
“Hey guys!! Hey Taeil hyung!”  
  
“Yo.” Taeil said, tone short before his eyes widened. Just as Johnny was about to turn to see what he seemed to have finally spotted when suddenly Taeil laughed loudly and threw his arm around Johnny’s neck. “Okay! Now that we’re all here how ‘bout we get the fuck out of here and grab some _food_ ! I’m fucking _starving_ !” Taeil said as he half dragged a confused Johnny and a very confused Yuta out of their campus gates towards his car.  
  
When they were all sat in the car, Johnny turned to Taeil and asked, “Hyung, what was that all about?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“You know what!”  
  
“I really don’t!” Taeil turned out of their University’s car park and kept his eyes trained on the road. Pointedly not looking at Johnny, “Yuta do you know what he’s talking about?”  
  
Yuta, looked between Johnny’s face and the back of Taeil’s head and said, “I think he means your weird behavior at the gate..?” He said hesitantly.  
  
“I have literally _no_ idea what you’re talking about.” Taeil said, not looking at either of them. Johnny groaned and thumped his head against the window. They drove in uncomfortable silence for a while until Taeil cussed loudly at a driver trying to cut him on the road, making the other two boys laugh long enough for Johnny to have tears in his eyes. Yuta synced his phone to car’s stereo and started playing some anime theme songs that the three of them sang along (badly) to until the older boy pulled into a small fast food chain that the students from the various universities of their district frequented to.

Luckily the place wasn’t as packed as it usually is. As in, the boys only had to stand in line for twenty five minutes and not almost an hour to place their orders (and Doyoung’s). They also found an empty table and hurried over to it, Yuta and Johnny glaring down some kids from a different university who were going to claim the table as theirs. The three boys sat down at the table just as Doyoung rushed in, removing his jacket as he walked over to them, face flushed.  
  
“You guys would _not believe_ the shit I’ve had to suffer through today!” Doyoung said throwing himself down dramatically on the empty chair, just as Yuta snatched his bag off of it. He chugged a glass of water and slammed it down before glaring at them. “Firstly! It’s literally just the first day and we’ve been given a crap ton of shitty intro assignments! And for what? So that the professors can glance at them and toss them away because we all know that intro assignments _don’t. fucking. Matter_ ? But nOoO if we don’t hand them in, we’re blacklisted by the fuckwit professors for the rest of the year!”  
  
Yuta chuckled and lightly patted Doyoung’s back, “And that’s exactly why you’re going to do them all perfectly aren’t you Mister Honor Roll student?”  
  
“Shut up Yuta hyung I’m not done complaining yet.” Yuta raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and he and the other two boys shared an amused smile as Doyoung took a deep breath and continued, “And! And like, why are my classmates already fuckin’ wasted in class? Like literally. It’s the first day. The idiot I sat next to stank so badly of weed, it was like he had rolled in it, smoked fifty and then decided _‘Hey why don’t I come to class even though I’m not gonna fuckin understand anything just to bother Kim Doyoung!’_ Plus the traffic was horrible, people don’t know how to walk properly and how to maintain personal space in the corridors and ARGH I’M JUST SO MAD!!” Doyoung slammed his head onto the table with a soft _‘thunk’_ and moaned pitifully.  
  
Taeil and Yuta started patting Doyoung’s back in an effort to soothe him while he languished in freshman year agony. The younger boy had taken early pre college classes the previous year, which is how they had all gotten to know each other. Taeil had bumped into Doyoung arguing with someone from his class, someone who was twice his size and three times his body weight about electrical circuits and had looked so close to throwing hands that he had pulled him away on his authority as a sunbae on campus. The other boy had growled and walked (stomped) away after flipping Doyoung the bird which the younger boy had returned. Taeil had introduced him to Johnny and Taeyong and eventually Yuta had also joined the picture. They had a small, dysfunctional- but functional circle. Doyoung’s fiesty, no-nonsense attitude had been the thing that had charmed them all the most and it had turned out to be very useful when Taeyong got into his moods. Doyoung’s attitude of taking none of Taeyong’s shit and his strict behavior whenever Taeyong got too difficult, seemed to be the only thing capable of snapping Taeyong out of it.  
  
Doyoung snapped his head up and look straight at Johnny startling all of them. The younger boy had a manic look in his eye and Johnny was too scared to ask him what was wrong in case he started another tirade.  
  
“Oh. my. _God._ Do you know who I saw on campus toda-” He started to say leaning over the table towards Johnny with wide eyes when Taeil thumped his back and Doyoung turned to him angrily. “What was that for!?” He said to the older boy who had a crooked smile on his face.  
  
“You saw Jaehyun right?” Taeil said, his eyes widening imperceptibly.  
  
Doyoung, not catching the hint said indignantly, “No! Let me finish hyung! What are you even talking abo-” Taeil thumped him on the back again. “Stop doing that!” Doyoung shouted angrily, rubbing his back.  
  
“You saw Jaehyun on campus and he was walking around and looking at the clubs and you got concerned. Right?” Taeil said sharply.  
  
Doyoung looked slowly from Taeil to Johnny with a frown on his face, “Sure…..right…?”  
  
“And that got you concerned about Taeyong. Right?”  
  
Doyoung’s frown deepened and he nodded slowly. Johnny couldn't understand why Taeil wasn’t letting Doyoung speak and was just about to ask him why he was behaving so weirdly when their order was called out. Johnny and Yuta got up to pick up their order at the counter. Johnny forced himself to ignore the way Taeil and Doyoung started whisper arguing almost as soon as he and Yuta had gotten up. _‘What the fuck?’_ Johnny wondered to himself but shrugged it off as he brought their pasta and sandwiches and drinks with Yuta’s help to the table. He decided has more pressing matters to think of like his own assignments that are due at the end of the week. The four boys finished their meals with light conversation so that they could hurry up and get back to campus. Yuta and Johnny spoke about how their clubs were doing with the newbies recruitment while Taeil gave Doyoung some tips for his class assignments. Yuta told Johnny that it was pretty slow for the football club this year but that he had no problems with it since they already had plenty of members as it was. They’d just put the table up as a formality for the student council (Yuta insisted that the effort gone into the table was also part of his ‘official duties’ but Johnny knew that Yuta just liked decorating). Johnny told Yuta that he didn’t know much about the Radio club, but that he hoped the seniors had gathered some people since he couldn’t handle their broadcasts all by himself. Yuta nodded sagely, understanding of Johnny’s problem. The football club had been on the edge of collapse before he’d joined and he’d had to practically shoulder all of the responsibilities by himself for a long time. The four boys finished their meal and got up to leave when Taeil asked if Doyoung needed a ride.  
  
“Nah, I’m going to use the bus today. I need to get the different routes memorised.”  
  
“Sure. Whatever you say.” Taeil said with a fond shake of his head.  
  
“You sure man?” Yuta asked concern painting his face.  
  
“Yeah yeah don’t worry. I’m not familiar with this area at all and I need to learn you know! Taeil hyung’s been giving me rides all this time, I need to get the lay of the land. I can’t do that when he only knows like, two routes!”  
  
“What was that you ungrateful brat?” Taeil growled as he unlocked his car, “Watch me drive past you when you ask me for a ride next time!”  
  
Doyoung gave his most sticky, sweet smile to Taeil and said, “Aw hyung, but where’s the lie?”  
  
“Bitch baby.” Taeil scoffed but there was a note of fondness in it, “You sure you’re okay with using the bus?”  
  
“There’s lots of space dude..” Yuta said poking his head out, already sat in the passenger seat.  
  
“Yeah don’t worry. Y’all get going!” He glanced at his phone, “Fuck! I’m going to miss the bus! Bye!” Doyoung started running in the opposite direction while waving at them.  
  
“He’s a handful isn’t he..” Johnny said with a shake of his head as he climbed into the back and as Taeil got into the driver’s seat.  
  
“He just doesn’t want us to worry about him getting around and have us...you know, fuss over him,” Taeil strapped himself in and started reversing the car out of the parking, “I think he feels guilty that I had to drive him around for a while.”  
  
“He’s so cute!” Yuta said with a smile.  
  
“Definitely. But he has the weirdest way of showing his affection.” Taeil said, eyes on the road as he drove them back.  
  
“He’s a tsundere!” Johnny said.  
  
“Yeah! Hey! You remembered.” Yuta said turning back to Johnny with a thumbs up and a huge grin.  
  
“Of course I did man!”  
  
The three of them reached college with Johnny having fifteen minutes to spare. Yuta and Taeil had to rush off to their respective classes. Johnny walked over to the Radio club’s table and asked Wendy, one of the seniors in his club if they’d had any new sign-ups.  
  
“Uh...we had like 3 dudes inquire but..uh only one of them actually signed up.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
Wendy looked away and said suspiciously quietly, “I don’t know.”  
  
“Noona…” Johnny pressed.  
  
“Fine! They looked like assholes okay! They didn’t seem to be serious about the radio and they were probably thinking this is some dumb club where you can just put some stupid music on the system, sit around and be _stupid._ Plus one of those assholes tried to flirt. _With me._ And anyways you know Yoongi-sunbae would have had my head if I let idiots into the club!”  
  
“Noona! You know we need as many people as possible to keep the club afloat! Irene noona and Yoongi-hyung are _graduating_ this year! We need at least three people to keep afloat! Now there’s just you, me and this guy-” Johnny picked up the piece of A4 that Wendy had kept on the table and squinted at the name, “Jae- Oh _fuck…”_ _  
_ _  
_ “What?”  
  
“Jaehyun.”  
  
“Yeah he seemed like a good kid! And his voice was nice. He seemed a good fit?”  
  
Johnny thought to himself how bad an idea this could be with Taeyong making frequent trips to their recording booth and club room because it was _‘quiet’_ and one of the few places he let himself be relaxed. Jaehun possibly being in the same place regularly probably wasn’t the best scenario. He then shrugged to himself. He’d come to the almost brilliant realisation that both Taeyong and Jaehyun were grown-ass boys and it wasn’t his job to look after them outside of his regular friend duties. He had also realised that he was probably, in a weird way, using their problems as a get-away from how spectacularly miserable and boring his own life was with the fact that he was as single as ever, having a bunch of meaningless one night stands to fill that hole in his heart, having nothing to do during the vacations except for his gigs. The problems that Taeyong and Jaehyun were facing had come in at a great time and he realised he was probably using them as a crutch. It was probably unhealthy and Johnny realised they needed to sort their stuff out and his and the other’s (namely Doyoung and Taeil’s) interfering wasn’t going to help that cause too much. Taeyong needed to confront Jaehyun and clear out the air and what better way to indirectly do that than shove them in a room, that too a recording booth, together. Johnny quietly weighed the pros and cons of having Jaehyun in their club and decided that the club that he loved surviving was more important than his emotional crutch.

So Johnny said, “Uh..sure. If he makes it through Yoongi-hyung’s interview thingy.”  
  
“Yoongi sunbae likes hard working guys and this one seemed earnest. Let’s just let him try?” Wendy pleaded, clearly upset at not having gotten more people to sign up.

“Yeah sure okay,” Johnny said with a shake of his head and Wendy’s eyes lit up in gratitude, “Anyways, noona it’s my turn to take over the booth. Don’t you have your literature class like...now?”

Wendy looked at her watched and let out a surprised shriek that startled Johnny. Before the boy could even blink, she had dashed off with her attempting to stuff her notebook and water bottle and scarf into her half open bag. He waved at her retreating form and threw his bag under their table. Johnny sighed in dismay at the stack of recruitment forms that he and Yoongi-hyung had painstakingly drawn and printed together. Then again, the crude drawing and awful handwriting was probably also deterring people from signing up. No one in their club really had any artistic talent. None was required anyways but just for that instant, Johnny wished he knew how to draw something more complex than a stick figure with a smiley face and scratchy trees. He opened up his notebook and decided it was the best time to get started on some of his more complicated assignments since the crowd had dwindled after lunch. Just a few jaded seniors and confused first years walked around the lawn in front of their building and Johnny watched them all with quiet amusement as he worked.

By the end of the day, when Irene and Wendy and Yoongi and his friends from the other departments came to the booth, Johnny only had Jaehyun’s name and some other kids’. But in his personal opinion nobody really seemed up for it. He really wished there were more people interested in the radio, even if it was just their school’s. But ever since Spotify and ITunes and SoundCloud or any other online streaming website had happened, people just neglected the radio completely. He’d voiced this opinion to Yuta and Taeil and they had both called him a ‘fuckin grandpa’ in different tones (Taeil’s more loving and amused). So it was safe to say that Johnny was pretty damn disappointed in the shitty turnout and when he handed in the signup sheets and the stack of brochures no one had taken back to Yoongi and Irene to keep in the clubroom, he gave them a sad smile which they returned. There was no helping it, they knew. At least hopefully, their club would survive if Jaehyun made it past Yoongi-hyung’s screening interview from hell. And Johnny was pretty sure he would.

Johnny gathered his things and looked up at the rapidly darkening sky. He sent a quick text to the (other, not Taeyong support) group chat saying that he was going home. Everyone except Yuta replied with the fact that they were already home (Yuta had to stay back as vice-captain for some club activities planning thing that they had to do. The Japanese boy had started to whine and Johnny had put the chat on mute). Usually it was Taeil who gave him a ride halfway home but since he had had to wait past their usual time, he started making his way to the bus stop . He put his earbuds in and listened to some of the scrap mixes he’d come up with in the hopes of finding something he could really develop during the weekend. As he sat at the empty stop, except for a middle aged man with a briefcase, he saw a figure approaching and waving from the opposite side. He looked beside him at the stranger, who seemed too engrossed in his Candy Crush game and realised the person approaching him was waving at him. He squinted and realised that it was Mark when the figure got closer.

“Hey hyung!!” the younger boy exclaimed loudly as he dumped his bag next to Johnny and sat down on the other side.  
  
“Hey Mark! How’s it going? What are you doing here?” Johnny removed an earbud and fistbumped him with a wide smile. The younger boy was always like a breath of fresh air.

“Oh I was just here visiting a friend from school. He moved into a new building and I was helping him and his family move stuff around today after school.”

“A friend huh? What’s his name? Gotta be pretty close to go to the new house to help with moving...” Johnny said with a teasing smirk, expecting the boy to get flustered and flail in panic. Mark was a pleasure to tease because he was so reserved with his emotions.

“Yeah..he’s uh..he’s my best friend. I don’t know how we got so close to be honest because he used to annoy the shit out of me years ago. But haha yeah! Donghyuck’s my bestie now..he’s still satan incarnate though but he’s...yeah.” Mark said while scratching the back of his neck, not looking at Johnny.

Johnny’s eyes widened at Mark’s cute reaction, expecting the boy to be a sputtering mess, not genuine and sweet. It seemed to be more serious than he guessed even though it was the first time he’d heard about this Donghyuck kid, in the whole time he’d known Mark. Which, being three years was a pretty long time. The younger boy probably didn’t realise his own feelings, being pretty dense so Johnny decided not to push the issue. Young love was the sweetest, he thought to himself as his track played out of his earbud.  
  
“That’s nice Mark. I hope he and his family move in well. If you need any more help, let me know! I can drop by after classes.” Johnny said, wanting to see this Donghyuck.

“Oh! That would be great hyung! Well their sofa and stuff comes in this weekend, and his dad is going to Jeju for some business thing, so it would be great if you could come? I was thinking of asking Lucas, but he’s so…. _Lucas_ ..I was keeping that idea on hold.”  
  
“Sure, sure! That won’t be an issue. When does the furniture come in?”  
  
Mark beamed at him and said, “On Sunday morning. I know it’s strange that the delivery company’s working on a Sunday, but there was some delay or something so Hyuck’s mom convinced them to deliver on Sunday.”  
  
Johnny whistled in appreciation at Donghyuck- _Hyuck’s-_ mom, knowing from first-hand experience how awful the furniture delivery companies in Seoul were when it came to delay and compensation services. It wasn’t easy rescheduling a delivery, especially to the customer’s liking. As Mark called and informed Donghyuck about Johnny volunteering his services and confirmed the time and everything, the taller boy leaned back and closed his eyes to continue listening to his mixes.  
  
“What are you listening to hyung?” Mark asked as he clicked his phone off and put it back in his pocket.  
  
“Oh just there scratch mixes I came up with a few days ago.” Johnny said with a smile.  
  
“Can I listen?” Mark asked with wide, earnest eyes, always interested in Johnny’s work.  
  
“Of course!” Johnny pulled out his headphone splitter that Taeyong had gotten him after being disgusted of having to share earbuds with the taller boy. They both sat and listened to the mixes, with Mark exclaiming at some tracks until their buses came. Mark took the one before him so he waved the taller boy goodbye and told him he’d share Donghyuck’s building’s location with him as soon as possible. Johnny waved at the younger boy and got into his bus as it came five minutes after Mark’s left.  
  
~~  
  
The weekend came all too soon and Johnny was part relieved and part upset because classes were done, but he had been given so many assignments that he had to complete which were going to spill over the weekend. But that was the destiny of a college student, he thought to himself as he made his way to his kitchen to make some coffee to help him get through the first pile of assignments which were due earlier in the week. Johnny was making his way to the table when his phone buzzed.  
  
**Chatroom members:Youngod, Tell, You, Yuta-san, Winwin, Lee Tyong**  
**From: Yuta-san**

 **[Received: 16.16]** **  
** Ladies.  
It’s the weekend.  
Time to get WASTED  
  
**From: Youngod**

 **[Received: 16.16]** **  
** We have homework to do shut up  
  
**From: Winwin**

 **[Received: 16.17]** **  
** Sorry Yuta, Taeil-hyung has a shit ton of assignments  
Don’t think we can make it this time!  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

**[Received: 16.17]**

Come on guys!! Its our ritual! Its the first weekend after college started..  
:(  
  
**From: Winwin**

 **[Received: 16.17]** **  
** Tbh, I wouldnt mind a drink..but I dunno if Taeil-hyungs gna be free anytime soon  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

 **[Received: 16.17]** **  
** You can help him finish :) If you know what I mean :)  
  
**From: Youngod**

**[Received: 16.17]**

Gross dude

Find your chill  
  
**From: Winwin**

**[Received: 16.18]**

It’s not a bad suggestion..Lemme see what I can do  
He needs to relax too  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

 **[Received: 16.18]** **  
** O.O

Okaay….I didnt think that would work but ok  
Also Doyoung im not gna chill! We have to go out to relieve stress today!

cOME ON!! Ur done w your assignments anyways!

**From: Winwin**

**[Received: 16.18]** **  
** Taeil hyung said okay  


**From: Tell**

**[Received: 16.18]**

I’m in!  
:D Lessgeddit!  
  
**From: You**

 **[Received: 16.18]** **  
** I’m in too just cuz Taei hyung said leddgeddit

I foresee that we’re gna see wild Taeil 2nite at the club  
:D  
  
**From: Youngod**

**[Received: 16.19]**

Ugh

Fine

If everyones going,,, I might come as well..  
Wild Taeil is a rare and precious sighting too  
  
**From: Winwin**

**[Received: 16.19]**

This is going to be FUN :D

Taeil-hyungs taking out the skinny jeans

**From: You**

**[Received: 16.19]**

Oh so this is SERIOUS serious!

Where’s Yuta..I thought he’d be over the moon  
  
**From: Youngod**

**[Received: 16.19]**

Wait for it…  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

 **[Received: 16.20]** **  
** BLAZE IT!  
(responsibly)  
Also YAY IM SO HAPPY! LESSGEDDIT!!  
:D :D :D :D

We going to get WASTED!!!

Mayhaps laid!

Nobody bring their cars

Tonight, the only DD anyones gna be is DEAD DRUNK.

**From: Winwin**

**[Received: 16.20]**

Oh my god  
  
**From: You**

**[Received: 16.20]**

Oh my god………..  
  
**From: Youngod**

 **[Received: 16.20]** **  
** Smh

 

**From: Taeil**

**[Received: 16.21]** **  
** Lessgeddit!  
So where do we go? Usual?

 

**From: Yuta-san**

**[Received: 16.21]**  
Nah..I found a new place that’s opened up.

Hyoyeon noona told me about it  
  
**From: Taeil**

**[Received: 16.21]**

Well if it has Hyo-noona’s stamp of approval..  
  
**From: Youngod**

 **[Received: 16.21]** **  
** We gotta go  
  
**From: You**

 **[Received: 16.21]** **  
** oH?  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

**[Received: 16.22]**

WORM?  
  
**From: Youngod**

**[Received: 16.22]**

The club she recs are always good okay.  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

**[Received: 16.22]**

Sure sweetie

Anyways, we meet at 9.30

Eat and come we’re not spending on food

I’ll share the location w u guys in a sec  
  
**From: You**

**[Received: 16.22]**

Cool  
  
**From: Winwin**

 **[Received: 16.22]** **  
** Yes that’s cool w me and Taeil hyung  


**From: Youngod**

**[Received: 16.22]**

Okay  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

**[Received: 16.23]**

Uhm..What about Taeyong,,?  
  
**From: Youngod**

**[Received: 16.23]**

His phone’s being repaired.  
It kinda broke again a couple days back  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

 **[Received: 16.23]** **  
** aH okay..well you can ask him and he can join us!  
Or not! Whatever he’s comfy with :)  
  
**From: Youngod**

**[Received: 16.23]**

Yep! I’ll send u a text if he’s coming.  
**  
** **From: You**

**[Received: 16.23]**

His phone’s broken…?  
  
**From: Youngod**

**[Received: 16.23]**

Don’t worry, it’s nothing he was walking down the stairs and it slipped out his pocket.

Should’ve seen the look on his face lmao.  
  
**From: You**

**[Received: 16.23]**

Ah okay then cool :)  
  
**From: Yuta-san**

**[Received: 16.23]**

Aight then see you bitches at 9.30!  
  
They all said good bye to each other as Johnny pocketed his phone and finished drinking his coffee. He looked at the pile of assignments and begrudgingly decided to complete at least two so that he didn’t feel guilty when he went to party with the others. They were known to get rowdy when they were all together and he knew he’d be in no state to really work the next day. Yuta sent the location of the club half an hour after their conversation on the groupchat. The place wasn’t all that far but definitely needed a taxi to get to. Luckily Johnny could splurge on his transport and his drinks since he’d saved a bit of money after his gigs and thanks to how his social life consisted mainly of going to school everyday (with Taeil or on the bus).  
  
At around seven, he decided he decided that he was done with his assignments. He’d finished two and almost half of a third one pretty decently. He got up, made dinner, washed the dishes and went to his room to pick out his outfit for the evening. He knew if he dressed casual like he wanted to, he’d never hear the end of it from Yuta and Winwin who loved dressing up when they went out. He dug through his closet, finding nothing that could really suit going to a club, since he always preferred dressing in what Doyoung fondly called _‘The Suburban White Dad Look’._ The others, even Taeyong agreed with him but Johnny never understood why comfy shirts and nice pants were looked down upon. He never even really dressed up when he did gigs, though he did wear his goth band shirts so that the crowd took him seriously as an artist. He loved his usual outfits, but he wasn’t all that blind, no matter how much his friends teased him. So Johnny took out his black jeans, a studded belt that Yuta had gotten him in the hopes of sprucing up his look and a black band t-shirt. He decided that he’d go full post-emo for the evening and paired his clothes with a subtle, long necklace and two chunky rings. He didn’t have a lot of fancy shoes (unlike Taeyong and Doyoung’s extensive collection of boots and sneakers) so he stuck to wearing a pair of Converse. He brushed his hair back, letting the undercut show in it’s full glory and decided at the last minute to throw on some kohl left over from his actual emo days. He downed a bottle of soju, grabbed his coat and got into a cab to head to the club at quarter past 9, knowing full well that everyone would arrive no sooner than 10.

When he got into the club after standing in line for a couple minutes, the sound of the bass hit him first, then the smell of alcohol and weed and sweat and Johnny knew that the club was going to be amazing. The lights were bright but not blinding and the floor was huge. The DJ was at his station and the tracks he was putting out sounded amazing. The sheer _volume_ of bodies dancing without a care on the dancefloor was testament to how incredible the place was. He navigated through the floor and spotted Yuta and Taeil at the bar. He waved to them and they called him over.  
  
“Hey guys! Yuta is place is ama-” Johnny began to say just as Yuta shoved four tequila shots and two martinis in his arms.  
  
“Yeah yeah I know this place is amazing, I’m amazing now go to our table and put these there. It’s somewhere in the right corner, near the DJ’s stage, Taeil-hyung and I will be right there!” Yuta yelled over the din in the club. Taeil looked at him with a suffering smile and waved with his elbows, his arms already full of drinks and snacks.  
  
“Damn, alright..” Johnny shook his head and turned around trying to locate their table. It wasn’t that hard to spot since Doyoung had dyed his hair a shade of orange and it reflected in the lights.  
  
“Love you Johnny!” Yuta called out as he began shouldering his way through the crowd again. Johnny turned back to shoot him a look that translated to _‘fuck you’_ and made his way across the dance floor. Moving across a crowded dance floor was usually a task Johnny considered impossible when sober (because being drunk somehow gave you the superpower to cut through the crowd easily) but add a bunch of glasses with drinks that you’re trying not to spill? Johnny considered that practically Herculean. But thanks to his height and his experience at clubs, he weaved through the crowd and reached their table with minimum spillage of drinks. He gave himself a pat on the back as everyone shouted out greetings and took their drinks from him. Yuta and Taeil walked up to the table just as Johnny took his seat beside Winwin who looked, in Johnny’s opinion, like a punk fairy with his pointy ears, dark hair styled up, loose pale shirt and tight pants. Doyoung shifted across the booth to Winwin’s other side and the two other boys dropped themselves down beside him. Yuta placed an intimidatingly large tower of what looked like LIT and Taeil carefully places a giant bowl of snacks and some more shots on the table. Doyoung’s eyes bugged out of his head at the sight of so much alcohol in one place.

“Yuta-hyung have you lost it? How are we going to pay for all this?!” He tried to yell over the bass.  
  
“Don’t worry Doyoung they have a week long happy hour thing going  since they just opened recently! We have another tower of LIT coming! The only catch is that you gotta finish everything you order so-”

“Holy fuck!” Doyoung exclaimed loudly.  
  
“LET’S GO BITCHES!!” Winwin yelled and distributed the shots.

Everyone cheered and downed their glasses and made noises of appreciation or faces at the burn of the alcohol. After having another round of shots and drinking a huge glass of LIT, Johnny was starting to feel pleasantly buzzed and ready enough to hit the dance floor. Yuta, Winwin and Taeil had already migrated there and were grinding against each other, a sight Johnny was going to erase from his mind as soon as possible. Doyoung was at the bar flirting with someone whose face Johnny couldn’t make out, but it seemed to be going well if the smile on his friend’s face was anything to go by. Johnny pushed himself off the couch, grabbed the back of it to help steady him because he was drunker than he had thought, made sure his phone was in his pocket and slowly made his way to the dance floor.

Johnny let himself go as the music started to slowly make it way into his veins. The combination of the alcohol and the slow, sensual music encouraged some people to make their way towards him as he swayed. And Johnny preened at the attention. Johnny slow danced and swayed with a pretty girl with long hair who kept pouting and looking at him through her mascara-ed eyelashes and then he danced with a bunch of guys who looked younger than him and they bounced together to the beat of the top 40’s song the DJ was playing. He danced around with a couple other people and got a bit drunker when the mascara-ed girl and her friends invited him to do do some tequila shots with them. All in all, he was having a wonderful time, Johnny thought to himself as he jumped and cheered and danced with his friends. He watched as Taeil and Yuta got up on the platforms and danced with some of the other club goers.

It was when Johnny was being pleasantly grinded on by a guy he remembered vaguely was from their university. He caught sight of someone dancing on one of the raised platforms in the back, near the corner. He felt himself gravitate towards that person and he smiled politely at the guy who he was dancing with and pulled away to go closer to the stranger’s side of the platform. They moved with too much grace in comparison with the other people in the club and Johnny couldn’t take his eyes off of them. The bright, neon lights kept hitting their face and he couldn’t make out any of their features or if they were a boy or girl. Their moves were fluid and accentuated by the loose blouse they had worn but at times they moved in such sharp cuts and with such power that Johnny felt like he’d been kicked in the face. Then the person, who had their back toward him slut dropped in the most graceful way Johnny’s ever seen in all his years of existence and he wanted to thank Yuta for taking him to this particular bar on this particular evening. Just as he was about to reach the platform he was pulled to the side by a distressed Yuta and his thoughts of thanking the boy flew out the window and he frowned at him.

“Johnny, Doyoung’s puking we kinda need your help. Winwin and Taeil-hyung have passed out and I’m taking them home. The cab I called for them is already here but could you please take Doyoung home? I’m sorry Johnny, Taeil-hyung got too wild,” Yuta said sadly.

Johnny turned back to the platform to catch a last glimpse, but the person had disappeared so he turned back to Yuta with a sigh and said, “Yeah fine. Where is he?”

Yuta gave him his brightest smile and apologised until Johnny smacked him across the shoulder. He led him to three pathetic figures hunched over on the pavement which turned out to be Doyoung, Taeil and Winwin. Yuta and Johnny shoved Winwin and Taeil into the cab and the Japanese boy waved Johnny goodbye after telling him multiple times to message on the groupchat once he got Doyoung and himself home safely. After assuring him that he’d do just that, Johnny turned around with a defeated sigh as he looked at Doyoung who had fallen asleep near a puddle of vomit. Getting the drunk boy home was going to be a more difficult task than he had previously thought as rolled up his sleeves and called up an Uber.  
  
~~

The next morning Johnny woke up with a splitting headache, natural of a full blown hangover.  He reached blindly for his phone on the bedside table and squinted at the screen. He unlocked it and saw that he had a bunch of messages on the group chat from his friends saying they were home safe and a couple complaining about the hangovers and blaming Yuta. Taeyong had even sent them all a message via Doyoung telling them to drink water and take painkillers. He smiled and shook his head fondly before grimacing at how the movement made his head feel like it was going to split into two. He sent a quick text saying he was alive and started scrolling through his social media accounts (in night mode thank you very much). Suddenly his phone vibrated aggressively in his hand with a new message and Johnny almost dropped it on his face in shock. He wondered who on earth would be texting him in the early hours of a Sunday morning since everyone on the GC was sleeping their hangovers off. It was Mark. Johnny groaned as memories of his promise to go help the boy and his friend returned through the slush in his mind.

**Chatroom members: Markly, You**

**From: Markly**

**[Received: 07.23]**

Hey hyung! Sorry if I woke u up, but ive sent u hyuck’s address

Can u make it by like 9? The movers r gna come by then…

Sorry and thanks again hyung!

 

[Location attached:]  


**From: Markly**

**[Received: 07.25]**

Hyuck says he’ll give u breakfast and lunch

I mean his mom will haha  


**From: You**

**[Received: 07.25]**

Mark Lee you evil genius.

U kno i cant legally say no to free food

I’ll be there dw :)  


**From: Markly**

**[Received: 07.25]**

Thnx hyung! :D

See ya

 

Johnny gently wriggled out of his bed, walking as lightly as possible to the kitchen. He popped an Advil and downed a bottle of water. He sat on the kitchen counter until the pill kicked in and when he started feeling the headache recede he made himself some spicy noodles hoping the spice would clear out the remains of his hangover. At least enough to function like a regular human in front of Mark and his friend. Johnny ate slowly, focusing on chewing his food to have something else to think of than the mild throbbing in his head. Once he was done eating and leaving the dishes for later, he showered and put on his softest shirt and his most comfortable pair of pants. He layered it with a grey sweatshirt because the mornings were getting chillier as the days progressed. Hangover days were days for self-care and soft, warm clothes were a necessity. He styled his hair into some semblance of decency and popped in his lenses knowing his glasses, no matter how much he wanted to wear them, would slip off his nose when he started moving furniture round. He shrugged at himself in the mirror and glanced at his phone for the time. It was 8.30am. Johnny hurried to the door, slipped on his shoes and grabbed his keys and wallet. He checked that he’d switched off the lights and everything because even though he was doing okay financially he didn’t want to increase his utilities bill. Food was expensive enough as it is. Once he was sure he hadn’t forgotten anything he headed out into the cold morning.

 

Lee Donghyuck’s house was three bus stops away and in a lovely neighborhood with neatly trimmed trees lining the streets. Clearly a residential area for families and subtly different from Johnny’s student area in the way that there were more parks and medical stores and toy stores. Clearly meant for families, Johnny thought to himself as he walked through the gate to the fourth floor. When he got out of the elevator he found an excited Mark Lee and a cute boy with tanned skin and a head of loose curls with eyes that sparked with intelligence despite the way he hid a little behind Mark. Johnny immediately liked him.  
  
“Hyung! You’re here!” Mark greeted him enthusiastically.  
  
“Hey Mark! How’s it going?” Johnny greeted, wincing internally at the younger boy’s volume.

“I’m good hyung, this is Lee Donghyuck, my best friend!” Mark nudged the other boy with his shoulder as a way of introducing him.  
  
“Hey Johnny...I’m Donghyuck..Is it okay if I call you hyung?” The boy- _Donghyuck_ spoke softly.  
  
“Yeah sure, of course! Hi Donghyuck!” Johnny replied enthusiastically.

“Why are you being so quiet Hyuck?” Mark looked at his friend in confusion before looking at Johnny and exclaiming loudly, “He’s literally never this shy! He’s a loudmouthed bra-”  
  
Donghyuck jabbed his elbow into Mark’s side before hissing at him, “Dude, keep your volume low, Johnny hyung here’s obviously hungover! Are you Lucas?”  
  
“Ow! Wha-?” Mark looked confusedly between Donghyuck and Johnny who was rubbing his neck awkwardly before realisation dawned upon him and he spoke in his regular volume, “Sorry hyung! I was just..uh..excited I guess haha..” Mark twiddled his thumbs awkwardly while pouting. Donghyuck patted his back and nodded sagely.  
  
“Naw it’s okay don’t worry about it!” Johnny waved his hands quickly as he watched the two of them, “So how’d you two meet?” He asked in the efforts of getting to know the other boy better.

Donghyuck lit up and started sharing embarrassing stories of Mark in school while Mark whined and complained about how Donghyuck always picked on him for some reason. The younger boy invited him indoors. The flat was huge while still feeling homely, despite the lack of furniture and decorations. The warm colours of the walls and big windows that let the sunlight in, gave the whole place a very familiar feeling. They made some more small talk with Donghyuck’s mother joining in. She seemed to be the only one who could match Donghyuck’s wit and she sided very obviously with Mark, who seemed to be unable to defend himself against Donghyuck’s jabs. Johnny laughed and conversed freely with the three of them, marvelling at how shy Mark Lee seemed to open up in his own way around the curly haired boy. They clearly had a very strong friendship (and maybe something more, if the looks Donghyuck shot Mark when he thought he wasn’t looking meant anything). Donghyuck’s mother thanked him for coming over to help and complimented his music and his handsomeness, in the typical Asian mom way that had Johnny blushing. After talking for awhile longer, Donghyuck’s mother received a call from the moving company saying that they were waiting downstairs. The boys got up, stretched and jogged downstairs. Johnny looked at the back of the truck which looked stuffed with furniture and other stuff and thanked whatever force of nature was behind him because his hangover had almost disappeared. Otherwise he would not have survived the moving. Mrs. Lee signed for the delivery and they started working on getting everything upstairs. The boys decided to get the bigger furniture like the couch moved first. To Johnny, time passed quickly with Mark and Donghyuck’s banter flowing easily and Johnny also joining in easily. By the time they were done with the bigger stuff, Johnny’s arms felt like they were going to fall off and the two boys had collapsed on the couch, completely drained. Donghyuck went into the kitchen when his mother called him. Mark followed the other boy go with his eyes before he looked at Johnny who was leaning against the doorframe, his hands on his knees.  
  
“We still have a couple of flower pots left hyung..I’ll..ugh..go get them! Please sit down you must be exhausted.” Mark said as he gingerly tried pushing himself off the couch.

Johnny looked at his wobbly form, took pity on him and said, “Chill dude, you look like you’re going to break. I’ll go get them, they’re small pots anyways.”

Mark looked at him like he was Santa, bringing him his gifts and not like he was just going to go get some flower pots.

“Thank you hyung…” He whispered with wide eyes.  
  
Johnny giggled at the younger boy’s reaction and waved him off before jogging to the elevator. He went to the ground floor and grabbed the pots and sprinted back to the elevator, not wanting to climb three floors. However, it seemed like his luck was running out, because the elevator had already been claimed by someone. He looked sadly as the number on the digital pad showed it climb higher and higher, an inverse to Johnny’s hope of not having to climb more stairs which kept falling lower. When the elevator stopped at the 15th floor, Johnny gave up and resigned himself to climbing the stairs. He dragged his feet and stopped at each floor to catch his breath. When he was on the third floor, scrolling through his phone, a door slammed open and Johnny winced at the loud bang of it opening. As the adrenaline of the morning was wearing off, his hangover was returning in full force and the loud sound did nothing to help his growing headache.  
  
“Fuck!” Someone whispered angrily.

The sound of multiple things being dropped and crashing to the ground resounded through the empty floor.  
  
“Oh my fucking _god_ . Give me a break..” The person muttered, frustration bleeding through their voice.  
  
Johnny pushed off the wall he was leaning against and walked towards the source of the sound. As he went round a wall, he saw a boy hunched over what looked like a trash bag that had split open. He muttering angrily to himself as he gingerly gathered up the trash that had scattered on the floor.  
  
“Hey! Do you need any help?” Johnny asked quietly.  
  
“Huh? No. It’s okay.” The boy shook his head without looking up, a soft accent Johnny couldn’t place bleeding through. He kept gathering the empty packets of instant noodles and soda cans and other trash.  
  
“It’s cool, I can help!” Johnny bent down and picked up a soda can and handed it to the boy.  


“I said it’s okay,” He gritted out while shaking his head, reaching for the can “Thanks but ’m _fin-_ ” The boy looked up and the words visibly died in this throat.  
  
Johnny’s brain came to a complete halt.

 

“Johnny…?”  
  
Johnny’s brain went into overdrive.  
  
“Hyung! Hyung? Where are you?” Johnny turned around so fast his neck cricked loudly. Mark approached from behind the wall, a flower pot in his hand, “Oh there you are! You were gone for so long, I got worried you’d passed out or somethin’.” He said brightly, completely unaware of the crisis happening in Johnny’s mind as he sat frozen on the floor in front of a bunch of spilled trash and a boy who he never thought he’d see again.  
  
“Uh-”  
  
“Oh there you are!” Donghyuck said as he came jogging behind Mark, another flower pot in his hand. He smacked Mark and said, “Bitch you should’ve told me you found him!”  
  
“Ah sorry!”  
  
“Oh hey Ten hyung! Morning!” Donghyuck said mischief dancing in his eyes, “You look like a damn zombie.”  
  
Johnny whipped his head from looking at Mark to Donghyuck to Ten _(Ten)_ who was sitting three feet away from him, seemingly frozen in shock as well. He was sure his neck was going to break (he didn't know if he would mind it so much at this point in time).

  
Johnny’s brain started screaming at him and he felt himself go red. He got up, startling everyone and did what he knew would be probably the most childish thing to do, but his brain wasn’t capable of complex thought processes so he just went with it. He ran.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boo! I am back!!  
> Chapters will still be a bit slow on updates because my school year is hitting me in full force. I hope you enjoy this extra long chapter that I completely lost control over! Guess who else is back! Heheheh!  
> Thank you so much for sticking with this story through this unplanned hiatus. It was really hard moving to a different country and getting myself set up here. I apologise again for not replying to your lovely messages and comments and being so darn slow with the update. Please know that the comments and kudos mean the world to me and keep me going! I'm really attached to this story so even if I am slow, please know that it will be completed and will NOT be abandoned.   
> If there are any errors or things that don't match up, please let me know in the comments!!  
> Thank you once again so much. I truly appreciate you all so much.  
> Happy Halloween everyone!
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


	17. Chapter 17

**Chatroom members: Markly, You**

 

**From: Markly**

**[Received: 13.53]**

Hyung why’d you run off?  
You okay?

 

**From: Markly**

**[Received: 14.10]**

Hyung?

  
**From: Markly**

**[Received: 14.25]**

Dude ur scaring me

Hyucks worried 2…

  
  
**From: Markly**

**[Received: 14.40]**

Well...just call/txt me when u wanna i guess

Just lemme kno ur ok..?

 

**From: You**

**[Received: 14.42]**

Im ok..ill ttyl

 

**From: Markly**

**[Received: 14.42]**

oH!

Well..ok

I hope u feel better soon hyung

Thanks for today :)

Hyuck says he’ll treat u next time!

  
  
**From: You**

**[Received: 14.42]**

Cool :)

Sorry for worrying u both

 

**From: Markly**

**[Received: 14.42]**

Np np..take care!

 

Johnny clicked his phone off and gently, ever so gently slammed his head on the table. He had taken refuge at the cafe near the school. He had also made sure that Lucas wasn’t working before going in and taking the corner table because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle the other boy’s loud, positive energy when his head felt like it was going to be split open. His hangover had come back in full force by the time he had run over from Donghyuck’s house to the cafe (in the middle of the day with everyone on the streets staring at him). Looking back, maybe running in the chill of the bright, autumn day hadn’t been a great idea for his hangover. _‘Oh well_ ’ Johnny thought to himself as another waiter brought him a menu card with a sympathetic smile. Johnny took the effort of lifting his head and tried as hard as he could to smile back but he was sure it looked like a grimace. Whatever, he thought as he quickly ran his eyes through the menu and decided on having some cheese pasta and hot chocolate. Baby food, comfort food he decided would be the best way to get him to relax. After ordering, Johnny was left alone with his thoughts and that, he decided was dangerous territory so he plugged his earphones into his phone and blasted the loudest track he could so that it was all he could think off.  
  
Johnny spent the rest of the day making himself as busy as humanly possible. He cleaned his entire studio, coming out of the ordeal with two boxes worth of trash, finished his homework for the week and the next week and did some extra reading. He even finished working on some tracks he’d been putting off. He was so productive that by the time it was dinner time, he was completely exhausted and wanted nothing more to do than collapse on his (very clean) bed and curl into his (freshly laundered) blankets and fall the fuck asleep. His stomach made itself known as he was walking towards his bedroom and Johnny groaned in frustration. He really didn’t want to cook so, as much as he hated the thought of stepping out, he decided to go to the mart to get some instant noodles. He jammed a beanie on his unkempt hair, grabbed his long coat to hide his ratty pajama outfit (because it was a Sunday night and as tired and done as he was, he preferred if his neighbors continued to think of him as someone who had their shit together) and his keys. He hesitated to take his phone because he’d ignored it the whole day because of some irrational fear of confrontation. _‘It isn’t like he has your number, and even if he did, why would he contact you. He didn’t for this long..Right?’_ Johnny reasoned with himself before grabbing the device and stepping into the chilled bite of the autumn night. He buried his nose into his coat and walked quickly to the mart trying to get out of the cold breeze as early as possible. He peeked in and saw Jungwoo, dear, sweet Jungwoo, who never asks any questions or probed, at the counter and walked in with a small wave directed at the younger boy. He was answered with a smile and nod and Johnny went to grab his noodles. He bought two packs of his favorite noodles, some chocolate and some beer. He figured that, hey if he was going to stress eat, might as well go all out.  
  
He headed to the counter to pay and waited in line until Jungwoo finished up with the customers before him. While waiting, he fished his phone out, for the first time since lunch, and saw that there were a bunch of texts from the groupchats, some from Yoongi detailing the radio club’s plan of action for the next two weeks. Which included initiation and other ‘fun’ icebreaker activities for the newbies. Johnny sighed at the slow pace of the queue (or maybe he was just being a grumpy dick, because Jungwoo was always extremely efficient and quick) and decided to put off replying to his messages until he’d gotten some food in himself. By the time his turn to pay for his stuff came, Johnny’s stomach was growling and he’d grown extremely impatient so he wasn’t at his most pleasant.  
  
Jungwoo bit his lip nervously as Johnny came to the counter and said, “Sorry for the wait, the boys two places before you were a mess..”  
  
Johnny’s sour expression instantly softened at the sweet boy in front of him and shrugged, “Ah don't worry about it. I've had a pretty busy day today so in all honesty, the waiting probably did me some good!”

 

Jungwoo smiled thankfully as Johnny placed his items on the counter. The younger boy billed him and slipped in a small candy bar with a gentle smile.

 

“You're a regular here and you're always nice to me. Don't think I didn't notice how annoyed you were because of the wait. It’s nice that you treat people well.” Is what he had told Johnny when the taller boy asked him why.

 

Johnny started walking home and lightly swung his bag as he chewed on the sour candy that Jungwoo had given him.

 

“The candy has a tiny gift on the inside,” Jungwoo had said.

 

“Isn't that like...a choking hazard?”

 

Jungwoo had simply shrugged and said that he never offers it to kids and it's not even from the store, it's from his own personal collection that he offers his favorite customers. Johnny shook his head at the boys strangeness. Still, he appreciated the gesture and the sugar. He hadn't had or let anyone be especially soothing to him after what happened earlier in the day. Not to mention he'd also overworked himself trying to erase the incident from his mind.

 

Halfway home, the candy had melted and he was left with a tiny black cat figurine in a small plastic ball in his mouth. Johnny was reminded of the cheap, grocery store chocolates and candies him and his friends used to eat to get special stickers or gifts when they were kids and their parents gave them their pocket money. He remembered how Taeil and Jaehyun had gotten a stomach ache from overeating a particular candy because they wanted a rare badge that came with it.

 

Johnny was at the entrance of his building when he saw a figure sitting by the foyer.

 

“Taeyong?”

 

The boy for shrugged off his hoodie as he got up, cheeks dusted pink from the cold and the beer can he was holding.

 

“Johnny!! Hey bro!”

 

Johnny quickly walked over to him and grabbed him as the other boy stumbled ahead, trying to walk towards him.

 

“Taeyong are you drunk? What are you doing here?”

 

“Shh!! I had like one...One beer! D-Dont tell Doyoung he gets so mad at me. Don't wanna go home,” Taeyong pouted as he leaned on Johnny and they walked to the elevator.

 

“Oh jeez...uh...okay. But why are you here?”

 

“Hmm..I don't know! Just felt like seeing my bro! My bro Johnnnnyyyyyyy,” the other boy giggled as he dragged out the syllables.

 

Johnny sighed. He was exhausted mentally and physically from the day but it was a rare occasion that Taeyong showed up at all, let alone show up drunk and approachable. The elevator dinged just as Taeyong had started slipping down the elevator wall where Johnny had kept him propped up. He was reminded about his friends absolute shit tolerance for alcohol as he watched him giggle softly to himself with his eyes closed. Taeyong held onto Johnny's sleeve for balance as he followed the taller boy into his apartment. They toed off their shoes and Johnny told Taeyong to make himself comfortable on the couch while he put away his ‘groceries’ for the evening.

 

He made his way back to the living room and found Taeyong sprawled on the couch. He sat on the floor across the coffee table and asked, “Taeyong dude, why are you here?”

 

“Ugh can't..can't a bro come see a bro?? What is the world coming to! We can't live in a world like this! A world where bros can't see bros and where people you didn't want to see, you're forced to see! It's cruel!!” Taeyong hiccuped.

 

Johnny realised what Taeyong was talking about and sighed. He really wasn't in the mood nor did he have the mental capacity to deal with this topic. But as he looked at Taeyong on the couch, playing with the thread of the cushion case, he realised he was going through something similar too. In a twisted way, he too had not wanted, rather he hadn't expected to see Ten again. The information that Ten _(Ten)_ was closer to him than he'd been in years and hadn't contacted him or tried to was forced on him. It was a big, fat, ugly, fuck you surprise from the universe to which Johnny didn't know how to react and as a dignified adult, he'd made the decision to run away. So at that moment, as a very dignified adult, he made another decision. He decided that for today, he would also rant. He would rant and whine to his drunk friend.

 

“I understand what you're going through. On some level…”

 

Taeyong slowly turned his head to look at Johnny who was now playing with the threads of his carpet. “Whaddyamean?” He slurred.

 

“The thing about not wanting to see someone? But being forced to? Yeah I understand what that's like.”

 

“No...mm like I geddit..thanks? But whadyamean?” Taeyong pushed himself up and leaned on the coffee table, his face in his palms as he stared at Johnny. He didn't know how to tell anyone, how to formulate the words and string together the sentence, but Taeyong's expression more open than it had been in years. Johnny just went for it.

 

“Ten's in Korea. In Seoul. He's Mark's friends neighbor…I- I don't know what to do. I saw him today and I ran…” Johnny spoke softly, bitterness seeping into his voice. He didn't even know why he was so upset or shocked. It wasn't like Ten and he had ended their friendship on a sour note or that they'd fought. They'd just, fizzled out and stopped speaking. It was a natural thing that happened to most childhood friendships. The fact that theirs had lasted as long as it had, given that it was based only on letters and two meetings in person (counting the first day they met) was already incredible. Johnny should be more mature and be grateful for having had such a unique friendship, be civil and friendly with Ten if they ever cross paths again..or something. He should, he knows he should but he's just angry and bitter and sad. So sad, and he does the know why.

 

Suddenly Taeyong reached forward, halting all of Johnny's thoughts and held the taller boys face in his hands. He looked him straight in the eye, all drunkenness forgotten and said, “We need alcohol for this.”

 

Johnny nodded and went to his kitchen, pulled out as much of his alcohol stock as he could and went back to the coffee table.

 

“We're too fuckin’ serious and stupid when we're sober. Let's get wasted and just try to forget for a little while hm?” Taeyong said, already pouring them shots of soju as Johnny sat down opposite him.

 

“You're the right..haha...fuck, we truly have amazingly healthy coping mechanisms huh?”

 

“Got that right! Now, one shot! To our shitty lives and the shitty universe that keeps putting us in shitty situations!”

 

Johnny and Taeyong took their respective glasses and tipped their drinks back. They downed drink after drink and a few hours later, with empty bottles, chips and ramyeon cups strewn about them, a dumb cartoon playing softly in the background Johnny was lying on the floor and Taeyong was half on the sofa, half off it humming softly to himself.

 

“Mm you've not sung in a while Tyong. Nice voice hmm,” Johnny mumbled at the ceiling.

 

“Shuft up I'm soooo drunk, gonna be dead zombie tomorrow,” Taeyong grumbled.

 

“Heheh zombies are already dead dumbass they can't die again,” Johnny giggled.

 

“Oh m’ god shu-up..M’ brains switched itself off,” Taeyong said.

 

“Aheheh…tha- that's so weeeird,” Johnny giggled, imagining a brain switching the light off before it leaves the room.

 

It was quiet for a while, Johnny tracing patterns on the ceiling and Taeyong playing with the rips in his jeans.

 

“Hmm... Hey Johnny?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“'M sorry…”

 

Johnny pushed himself half up, leaning on his elbows and looked at Taeyong who was looking away from him, still playing with his jeans. He shuffled to lie back down.

 

“Hmm?” He voiced it like a question, gently pushing the other boy to talk.

 

“‘M sorry for always unloading my BS on you and being such a useless friend. All I do is fuck up and you gotta clean up my mess. You and the others. Feel like 'm takin’ advantage of you all. 'M so sorry.”

 

Johnny felt his heart pang for his friend and he shrugged lightly, “‘Sokay Yong, we jus’ miss you..is all.”

 

“'M sorry. I'm working on it. I am it's just. He showed up and I don't know how to breathe. I forget how to think. He takes up too much space and I need to be alone. It's a habit now. I'll try to break it and I'll work on being there more…”

 

“It's okay Yong.. Really. Yeah it's rough on us seeing you in pain or being distant but we're your friends. You're our friend and we're here for you. I'd promised that I'd help you hide a body if needed when we were fourteen right? Just please… ask for help when you need it. You don't have to be alone all the time.”

 

“Yeah...okay..I'll work on it. I'm still sorry. I wish I could get better quicker,” Taeyong sighed lightly.

 

“Take your time. We're here. We'll be here,”

 

“Thank you, all of you. I'm sorry you're going through a rough patch. If you need me to beat Ten up…I gotcha,” Taeyong said, mischief lighting up his eyes.

 

Johnny who was still half drunk shot up, the movement causing his vision to spin, “ _WHAT?!_ No! No. Taeyong. Tae, bro, no!”

 

Taeyong giggled to himself, “Just sayin’...”

 

“Oh my God.”

 

“Well you'd be the one helping me hide the body anyways so-”

 

“Oh my _God!?_ You-!” Johnny threw the closest thing to him, which happened to be his slipper in the vague direction of Taeyong's head.

 

Taeyong cackled and Johnny laughed along with him. He needed this. He missed his friend and it was going to take time for this to become normal but he would support Taeyong no matter what. He would always be the kid who was afraid of the tunnel slide to him.

 

“D'you know what you're gonna do 'bout Ten?”

 

“I don't...I'm so confused,” Johnny whispered.

 

“Hmm..don't be, do what feels right I guess. That's what Taeil-hyung tells me,” Taeyong whispered back.

 

“What if everything feels wrong for some reason?”

 

“I dunno Johnny it'll come to you. Jus- just don't overthink.”

 

~

 

The next morning Johnny got up on the floor of his living room with a blanket thrown over him. He looked around blearily and noticed the place had been cleaned and there was no sign of Taeyong. For a second in his sleep addled state, he thought that he'd imagined the entirety of last night like a stress and sadness induced fever dream where his best friend finally opened up to him after years of being closed off. But then he realised it was Taeyong and even though the boy had said he'd work on his problems consciously, it wasn't going to be instantaneous. So he got up and stumbled into the kitchen, blanket still wrapped around himself and saw a plate of eggs and toast wrapped up in plastic film and some aspirin laid out as well. He shook his head lightly at how regardless of what happens Taeyong's parental streak never fails to show itself. His phone lit up with a message as he was downing a bottle of water with the aspirin.

 

**From: Tyong**

**[Received: 11.24]**

I cleaned ur shitty appartement.

It's a mess please clean regularly.

Eggs and toast on the table. Have the meds for the hangover.

Left early cause I had some work to do.

Don't worry and thank you for listening yesterday.

Let me know what happens with Ten.

 

**From: You**

**[Received: 11.25]**

Hey I'm a busy student ok stop judging

But thanks Mom

And I will

 

**From: Tyong**

**[Received: 11.25]**

Stfu bitch

I gotta go

see ya later

take care

 

**From: You**

**[Received: 11.26]**

See ya

and I should be saying that to u

 

Johnny clicked his phone off and went on with his day. He brushed his teeth, took a bath, had his breakfast..well brunch and a coffee and started the walk to his uni. He thanked the almighty uni gods that his morning classes had been cancelled because he saved his sick days for when he was either actually sick or for the days he had his gigs. Johnny wasn't really the type to skip classes unless he had a really good reason.

 

He saw Doyoung waving at him from the corridor and jogged up to him.

 

“Hey hyung you okay?” Doyoung asked squinting through his glasses.

 

“I'm fine, just had a late night. Taeyong slept over and we kinda drank a bit..a lot,” Johnny replied sheepishly.

 

“He was with you?” the younger boy exclaimed, “Wow that- that's out of the ordinary!” He said wide eyed.

 

“Yeah..I guess. Anyways, when's the Freshman showcase for the clubs?” Johnny asked, struggling to take his books and pencil case out for the class as they waited by the door.

 

“In two and a half weeks and it's ridiculous! How are we supposed to manage the workload from classes, the tests  and the showcase at the same time? People _actually_ come to see these showcases. Important people, and the school committee is pushing all of these things together. It's so fucking annoying!” Doyoung practically growled in frustration as the previous classes filed out from the rooms, “Anyways hyung, gotta go! I'll catch you later!” He waved Johnny goodbye and went into his class.

 

Doyoung was a new member of the music club and Johnny could feel just how stressed he was through his words alone. Not that Doyoung wasn't usually stressed because of how many things he made himself do but he was really _really_ dedicated to the music club, despite being a very new member. Taeil, one of the captains, had scouted and convinced him to join during the younger boy's pre-college classes. Their university's various arts clubs were quite famous in their respective circles and the showcases or gallery hostings that their school did on a regular basis actually brought a lot of attention from people in the industry looking to hire ‘fresh minded, young individuals’ (read: gentle, innocent lambs with idealistic views of the world). And the audience was huge and enthusiastic and the best performers were usually given awards. Taeil was putting a lot of work in the showcases as they were going to be his final few before graduation. Johnny was thankful that he wasn't part of any of the arts clubs but he knew that once it got to showcase season, his radio club was going to be busy making announcements for the same.

 

Johnny got through the rest of his afternoon classes without any major problems. His notes were halfway legible and he wasn't behind on his homework or reading at all, thanks to his stress levels the previous day. So he went to the radio club's room and saw that Yoongi and Jaehyun were already in the recording booth while Irene was sitting down in the studio with her laptop in front of her.

 

“-And this is the button you press when you only want the people in the studio to hear you and not the entire school,” Yoongi explained softly to Jaehyun who was diligently taking notes in a tiny notepad.

 

Irene was typing something out on her laptop, no doubt the script for their next few recordings and Johnny placed his bag next to her chair and waved to her. She smiled back and nudged the laptop so that he would be able to see it too. They discussed the script, what gags they could add, where and how the DJs could segue into their segments and they were just on the song selections when Jaehyun and Yoongi shuffled out of the recording booth.

 

“If you have any problems, don't worry, Johnny here is an expert and Wendy is a technical genius. You'll be under their wing until we give you the say so, so you won't be in charge of a segment yet. But I hope you have a great time in the club,” Yoongi patted the taller boy on his shoulder and smiled gently, aware of how he was probable nervous. Jaehyun smiled back in thanks and nodded.

 

“Our first recording will be on Friday but we meet every day or alternate day, depending on what the faculty wants to do quick announcements and stuff,” Irene said to him.

 

“Ah okay! Uh, what time is the recording?” Jaehyun asked hesitantly.

 

“Oh! It's at 6pm. That's usually when all club activities start and we end, on a good day, by 7.30 or 8pm,” Johnny  smiled widely. The taller boy walked to Jaehyun and clapped him on the shoulder, “I'm glad you joined us!” he said encouragingly.

 

“Thank you hyungs, noona! I hope I do a good job…”

 

“Yeah, you're kind of obligated to. Neither Irene nor I tolerate half-assery,” Yoongi crossed his arms and frowned. The senior looked quite intimidating despite his slight stature before he melted and smiled again, “Don't worry kid, we got you.”

 

“Yeah Jaehyun if anything goes wrong, you can put the blame on Wendy. No one will bat an eyelid,” Irene said, mischief clear on her face.

 

“Excuse me! I heard people talking shit about me!” Wendy herself yelled as she threw open the door to the club room dramatically.

 

The members of the club proceeded to joke around and bond with Jaehyun, their newest member until they had to part ways to go home. Johnny and Jaehyun decided to walk to the grocery store together since the younger boy had to shop for some stuff. On the way there Johnny recounted the events of the previous day while Jaehyun listened and chimed in with his observations and thoughts.

 

“Yeah so, I met Ten again yesterday…”

 

“WHAT?!”

 

“Yeah, I was helping a friend of a friend out with some moving stuff and he just, happened to be staying in the same building. It was like some weird, cruel joke that the universe played on me.”

 

“Dude no wait, Ten is _staying_ in an apartment? In Korea? Does that mean he's here long term? How long has he been here? What the _fuck?_ ”

 

“I don't know anything Jaehyun. I was a dumbass and I fucking ran like an idiot when I saw him. I panicked. But, like, the kid I was helping yesterday seemed to know him so I'm going to go ahead and guess he's been staying in the building for a while.”

 

“Damn...this is so weird. All of us back together, in a way… Are you gonna try to talk to him again? What are you going to do?”

 

At that, Johnny stopped in his tracks and thought about it for a while. Taeyong had asked him the same thing. _What_ _was he going to do?_ Ten was one of his closest friends, despite not having been in touch for so many years. It would be completely idiotic to not initiate contact or to pretend like he isn't staying half an hour away. But Johnny was torn because his mind was still afraid and upset for some reason but he didn't want to be a dickhead.

 

“Hyung? You good?” Jaehyun waved his hand in front of his face.

 

“Hmm? Yeah! No I was just thinking. Actually, Taeyong had come over last night and he asked me the same thing. In all honesty, I really don't know what to do. I want to talk to him and catch up, go back to how friendly we were. But it's just awkward now for obvious reasons and on top, I'm like, weirdly mad at him,” Johnny huffed out.

 

“Hmm, it's not all that weird you know. He did kinda ghost you completely. I mean it probably wasn't intentional but it happened. Don't worry too much though hyung, you'll figure it out!” Jaehyun smiled at him.

 

“Haha that's what Taeyong said too. Let's see I guess,” Johnny said and laughed.

 

“How… how was Taeyong-hyung?” Jaehyun asked hesitantly.

 

Johnny smiled gently before replying, “ He was drunk off of one beer and then we drank more. Lots more. But he was okay. I think he's trying to change things and I'm glad about that.”

 

“I see…” Jaehyun frowned, his eyes out of focus.“

 

Jaehyun, don't worry. It's all going to be okay.”

 

Jaehyun nodded at Johnny, shooting him a tired looking smile in thanks as they reached the grocery store. Johnny waved Jaehyun goodbye since he had to go home earlier to work on some new tracks. The taller boy strolled home, buttoning his jacket up against the growing cold, his heart heavy with a strange detachment and loneliness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> h..hewwo!
> 
> It's been too long. I hope you're all doing well! School and real life are taking up all of my time. But I hope you accept and enjoy this chapter as a form of my apology. Also your comments keep my little heart beating and my soul alive.  
> I'll try to update again soon! Things are going to start moving much faster (well, sort of) in this story from now on.
> 
> I'm so sorry once again!
> 
> Also Johnny is a sensitive boy, handle with Love and Care :'-(
> 
> Twitter: @tendaeyo


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